A Christmas to Remember

I pulled out my Kenny and Dolly Christmas album for the first time this season a couple days ago. I don't know why it took me so long to choose to listen to that one. I guess I forgot I had it.

That's the album that does it for me. We had it on a record. It took me back to a million Christmas's as a kid. No specific memories...just decorations and crackling fires and pleasant thoughts of my whole family together and being a kid. A carefree kid without the responsibilities of Christmas...nor did I even notice that Christmas takes huge efforts from parents to pull off.

Not that I mind the responsibilities of being a parent at Christmas...I enjoy the hustle and bustle that this season brings. In lots of ways, I prefer being a parent at Christmas. I love making magic happen for my crazy boys. It's just a completely different time or life...a time that once you leave, you can never go back. Thank goodness for the sounds and smells and photographs that can flood in so many memories of when Christmas was that magical for me.

This post seems to be taking a different turn than I expected.

I am a Christmas music LOVER! Unless I'm listening to one of those easy listening radio stations that are overtaken by Christmas songs this time of year. From Thanksgiving on, I listen to nothing but Christmas music, but I just don't care for the cheesy songs played on those stations. Yet, my choice of Christmas music is more than embarrassing. I'd say the album I choose listen to most is Barry Manilow Christmas. But it's my Disney Christmas album that gets the most air time at our house. If I have to listen to Pluto bark "Oh Christmas Tree" one more time, I'll break the Cd. Probably not really...it's the only song Gray can sing along to and watching him bark "Oh Christmas Tree" is about the cutest thing I've ever seen. Though it hardly makes the song more bearable.

We can't make it through the season without listening to Osmond Family Christmas or Amy Grant. I don't care a great deal for either, but they're both the kind that have so many memories attached. My Squirrel Nut Zippers Christmas Album was the one I thought was really cool in my college years so I enjoy those memories, too. And a couple years ago, Spencer and I purchased Bare Naked Ladies Christmas album so we wouldn't completely feel like old people in our Christmas music collection. Then I realized, that made us seem more like people who can't get past high school. BNL hasn't been cool for years. Yet I still enjoy them.

Thanks to Spencer's love for classical choral music, we have a fantastic collection of Cambridge Singers Christmas Cd's. Like a HUGE collection. How can one conductor come out with so many Christmas Cd's? Seriously? Yet they are all incredibly beautiful. Honestly...very moving. And the music that brings back the memories for Spencer is the old time stuff...Perry Como, Bing Crosby, Johnny Mathis.

The the real question is...is it possible for Christmas albums to be cool? Or is everyone else's Christmas music collection equally embarrassing? I'm waiting for someone to list Kenny G as a favorite...that will assure me that someone has a more embarrassing love for Christmas music than I do. And what's the album that brings back those memories for you?