Twelve Days Of Christmas Songs

WHEN: Christmas 2011
WHERE: Somewhere In My Memories

As many have said/sung before, this is "the most wonderful time of the year".  But what makes December and Christmas the most wonderful time of the year?  Being with loved ones?  Copious amounts of sweets, meats, and other food you lose all control over?  Giving and receiving gifts?  Watching movies from your childhood that you love just as much as an adult?  

Maybe it's the mistletoeing or the figgy pudding?  Frolicking and playing the Eskimo way?  Taking a look at the five and the ten?  Roasting chestnuts on an open fire?  Meeting smile after smile?  Birthday parties at the home of Farmer Gray?  Or maybe it's just trolling the ancient Yuletide carols?

I don't know about you, but I'm not the best at trolling.  I do, however, greatly enjoy hearing others trolling carols - ancient or otherwise.  I think Christmas music ties everything we love about the holiday together.  Isn't your time spent with friends and family enhanced by the Christmas music playing in the background (or foreground)?  Isn't it easier to spend a little more when Christmas music is serenading you from the rafters of your favorite store?  And how less exciting would Christmas movies be without the accompanying music?

That's why I think Christmas music is anticipated by so many, of all ages, every time the Christmas season roles around.  It not only puts us in the mood for the season, but it rekindles the moods, memories, and nostalgia of Christmases past.

Have you started listening to Christmas music yet?  If you haven't, I doubt it is because you don't have access to the music.  It seems there are at least 3 or 4 radio stations completely committed to playing Christmas music by the time December rolls around.  Every store has some number of Christmas songs in their playlists by now, if not completely overtaken by them as well.  And I assume with only two weeks left before Christmas, even the people least excited about embracing Christmastime (*cough* grinches) have begun listening to Christmas tunes. :)

As for me, at least for the past few years, I always go through a phase - usually sometime during the summer - when I listen to Christmas music for several days.  It's not that I am looking forward to Christmas already, it's just that I feel the need to immerse myself in Christmas at a time when no one else is and during a time of year when the clutches of winter hold no threat.  I don't have memory of doing this for very long but I believe it probably started after we moved away from Iowa.  I think I began to really enjoy Christmas music more then, since it was my way of escaping to a time of year (Christmas) when we were always with our families, during a time of year far removed from them.

These are some posts from my Facebook wall I dug up today...

April 3, 2011

 July 1, 2009
(apparently I didn't finish the status)

October 12, 2011

This year was extreme though, even for my "condition".  My summer music fix is usually enough to get me to October or November, when I start listening to Christmas music again.  It's then that I am ready to fully embrace the Christmas season and listen to Christmas music until (and not a day past) December 25.  (Doesn't Christmas music sound so weird on December 26?)  Well, this year I started listening to Christmas music around Labor Day and have not stopped since (yes, Labor Day...it was still summer).  There have only been a handful of days since then that I have not listened to Christmas music.  I'm surprised Stacie still wants to celebrate Christmas, after I've been celebrating it through our speakers for the past 3+ months!  But I must say, the Christmas music is no less exciting for me to listen to today, than it was during any of the past 3 months.

Since I began listening so early this season and was more enamored with the music than I have probably ever been before, I decided to do something about my incessant listening to and affinity for the music.  I was interested in capturing what Christmas songs I loved the most and perhaps develop a playlist that I could start with when I begin listening to Christmas music next summer.

So why should you care?  As if you have not been bombarded by enough Christmas music already.  Who am I that you would care to check in to see what I deem the twelve best Christmas songs?  Well, that was never my intent.  I myself don't even like when "experts" tell us what the best "this" is or the best "that" is.  We all have our own opinions and my only intention for these posts is to share my opinions.  It's really just a playlist for myself, that I'm sharing with others.

Each day, I will present two songs, one instrumental and one vocal.  I will give a description for why I chose each song as well as provide an accompanying video for that song from YouTube.  What details I will provide today about the content in each countdown are limited, but I will provide a few - for those of you who can't wait for Christmas surprises and gave your parents grief each year about opening at least one present on Christmas Eve.  What?  I didn't do that!

First, the countdowns will NOT include any songs by the Chipmunks, Crazy Frog, or the like (see criteria #1 below).

Second, and ironically, the countdowns will NOT include any version of the song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

Third,  there were a number of "criteria" I noticed for the songs I chose.  I did not use those criteria to determine if I would place a song on the list; they were simply criteria I noticed after I had made the lists.  Those criteria were:

Finally, while I may have had criteria for the songs, I had little criteria for the videos.  This is due to the fact that I was subject to the sometimes-less-than-creative ideas of various amateur YouTube member's videos.  Some songs never had music videos associated with them, and even if they did they are not necessarily easy to find.  So don't judge the songs by their related videos.  After all, this is a "best of" Christmas songs, not Christmas videos.

Which gives me an idea for next year...Twelve Days of Christmas Movies??

Stay tuned for that one.

For now, I leave you with a video to wet your appetite for the next 12 days.  I came across this video for the first time this year, though it was filmed at Indiana University back in 1998.  It is by a group called "Straight No Chaser" and their version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas".  You may have heard of this group or seen this video before, but I have been completely out of the loop all these years.  If you have not heard it before, enjoy, and check back tomorrow for the Twelve Days of Christmas Songs and the countdown to Christmas (or in this case, December 22).