Have You Missed Me?

It's been a whole week since I last posted!! What's been going on with me?? Well, not too much. I've just been in a "don't-want-to-sit-down-to-blog" mood. There've been things happening, I just haven't wanted to write them out, you know? Hopefully I'll catch up over the next few days, hmm?

I thought I would get back into the habit by sharing my favorite Christmas music.
I tried uploading songs and making a playlist for you to enjoy... but alas, many of my albums are in .wma format, and Playlist.com only accepts .mp3 types of formats. And there's no truly easy, free way (that I know of) to convert everything. Plus, it was getting to be a pain trying to figure it all out just for a blog post, anyway. So, I'll make do with just a post sharing the albums and linking to them for you.

Are you ready??? Here we go! (Each album title I list is also a link its location at Amazon.com, if you wish to preview the music.)

Carpenters Christmas Portrait

Why I love this album? I love Karen Carpenter's voice, first of all. It's crystal clear, has a lovely range, and oh-so-singalong-able. And I really love the order of the songs... they seem to just melt right into each other effortlessly, making the whole thing just a pleasure. There's a perfect mix of instrumental and vocal pieces. I come back to this album year after year, and never get tired of it.

Amy Grant Home for Christmas

I grew up listening to this one. It was always one of my favorites. I love Amy Grant's voice, and her versions of classic Christmas songs. The to-die-for song on this album is "Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song)". I also love "Emmanuel, God With Us", "The Night Before Christmas", even though their musical style is so 90's. I also love the last song on the album, an instrumental "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring".... it has an Irish jig sort of feel to it that always makes me want to get up and dance. And in fact, I frequently did, as a teenager. ;) This album just makes Christmas seem like Christmas, you know?


Harry Connick Jr.'s When My Heart Finds Christmas

This one wins the most upbeat award in my collection. The jazzy/big band style is prevalant throughout, and it's one you can really blast through the speakers and enjoy while you're busy in the house, or just to kick up your heels and dance with the family! I love the original song on this album, "When My Heart Finds Christmas", which has a beautiful sentiment and tune. In fact, quite a few of the songs on this album aren't traditional Christmas tunes, which is really nice for when you need a change. And I have to admit to wearing out the repeat button when I get to "Ave Maria"... it's soooo peaceful, and I can listen to it about 20 times in a row and never stop sighing in contentment. I bought this album in college, and have listened to it every year since.


Sarah McLachlan's Wintersong

I bought this one just last year, and it quickly shoved its way to the very top of my favorites. Sarah McLachlan's voice is just so wonderful to begin with (even Jesse enjoys listening to her!), and her entire album is just something totally different from all my other Christmas albums. Starting off with a bang, "Happy [Xmas] (War is Over)", which is a beautiful rendition. Following it is "What Child is This" sung to the tune of Greensleeves, which is different but absolutely lovely. "River" and "Wintersong" are both original and wonderfully beautiful, of course, but my all-time favorite on the album is "In the Bleak Mid-Winter". It really spoke to my heart perfectly last year, and it's just a hauntingly beautiful song, anyway. I can listen to it over and over again without tiring of it. There were a few songs that took some warming up to, but once I did, I fell in love with them. And thus, I enjoy the whole album thoroughly.

Raffi's Christmas Album

This is a MUST HAVE, if you have children in the house. I grew up with Raffi's Christmas music, and I still enjoy it today. Raffi has a great voice, and sings clearly so children can understand and learn the words. In fact, as I write this, Jacob has been sitting in front of the CD player just going from song to song, concentrating on memorizing the words. Melinda has learned the words to "Jingle Bells" almost flawlessly, in just the week we've had it out to listen to. My personal favorite is "Must Be Santa", which has a singing style similar to "The Twelve Days of Christmas", where you add on a couple more characteristics of Santa each round, then sing them all as you work your way back down. There are a few lyrical songs sung in French (I'm pretty sure Raffi is Candadian), and while I don't really understand them (despite 2 years of high school French... I sure don't remember anything I learned!!), they are beautiful, and it's nice to expose the kids to other languages. I enjoy the whole album, and catch myself singing to many of the tunes randomly throughout the day, without the kids' instigation, that's how much I like it! If you don't have this one, don't forget that you have the option of downloading the MP3 album and listening to it right away, so you can enjoy it with your kids this year!!


David Lanz Christmas Eve

I saw this performed in concert. In fact, it's the only concert performance I've ever been to in my life (if you don't count the little ones I attended at college, at least, and I don't). David Lanz is a "new age" pianist, and the quirky fact about him is that he can't read music. Oh, he can compose absolutely beautiful pieces, but he can't write it down or read it. Which makes his music even more amazing, in my opinion. This album is my favorite instrumental Christmas album. There are some extremely complex pieces, and some so tranquil that you could fall asleep to them, if you wanted to. Each more traditional Christmas carol is alternated with a short "Angel" piece, each with a different feel to go along with its title. Each piece is beautifully arranged and exceptionally enjoyable.


Arthur Fiedler & The Boston Pops: A Christmas Festival

There was a piece we played in our High School band for our Christmas concert - it was a really fun version of "Sleigh Ride". It took me so long to figure out where it originally came from and then which album I was searching for once I figured it out! It haunted me - every year, I would hear it on the radio, but nobody ever said who it was performed by. So, I hunted. And finally found it. And this was the album it was on! The version of Sleigh Ride on this album is my absolute favorite... not to mention that it just brings back so many fun memories of playing in a band (Clarinet, in case you didn't know that about me!). And hey, you just can't go wrong with the Boston Pops, am I right?? Many of these pieces will be instantly recognizeable to you, I'm sure.


The John Rutter Christmas Album (The Caimbridge Singers)

I have to admit that I don't actually own this album. What I do own, however, has a great many of the pieces from this album. When Jesse and I participated in the ward choir when we lived in Louisville, Colorado, we had the most awesome choir. I don't mean to brag... but I really feel that way. ;) Our organist was simply fantastic, and the pieces we performed were pretty unfamiliar to me at the time, and took a lot of practice to get them right. One particular year, we were singing a lot of traditional Christmas carols, as well as bits from Handel's Messiah. Not your typical fare for most ward choirs, at least in my experience. Anyway, one of our choir members gave us all a mix CD including a lot of the pieces we were working on, to help us get more familiar with them, as well as a whole slew of additional ones I'd never heard before. I've since fallen in love with all of them, and it's another one of those albums that I go back to year after year, eagerly. Most of the traditional carols from my CD, I later discovered, are probably from this John Rutter Christmas Album. They sound exactly the same. And, dare I say, this album includes the best of them. If I ever lost my copy of the mix CD, this one would be a fitting replacement. Personal favorites include "Wexford Carol", "Jesus Child", "Nativity Carol", "Star Carol" and "Shepherd's Pipe Carol" (both performed in our ward choir), and "I Wonder as I Wander". Love this album!!

That, I think, is a pretty solid list of my favorite Christmas music. There are a few others that are "just right" for certain moods.... but if I listed all of those, I would end up listing all my Christmas albums! ;) Tell me, are there any on this list you weren't familiar with yet? Any you might be interested in listening to yourself because of hearing about them here? Any of your favorites that didn't make it onto my list?