My Christmas Playlist
As you know, we love music in our house. And Christmas is a time when all our quirky genres get festive together in a happy family mix of wonderfulness.
Happy, music-filled holidays!
1. Christmas Time Is Here/Vince Guaraldi Trio
My little one is learning this one in school, so her little voice can be heard singing this one, and it makes me melt a little bit.
2. Christmas Song/Nat King Cole
I mean, come on… it’s not Christmas without the King!
3. It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year/Johnny Mathis
A friend of mine reminded me about Johnny Mathis, and now he’s on heavy rotation throughout the year. But of course, this time of year is the most wonderful…
4. Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer/Gene Autry
We all agree in our house that Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer is our favorite Christmas movie, and this is the original!
5. There’ll Be Peace in the Valley/Elvis Presley
Oh, Elvis. Need I say more?
6. It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas/Duke Ellington
Oh, Duke… Let’s get this party started.
7. Let It Snow/Diana Krall
Continuing in the jazzy theme…
8. O’ Little Town of Bethlehem/Bob Dylan
One of my favorite quirky Christmas albums is Bob Dylan’s Christmas in the Heart. He’s crazy-good! And since we live in the town of Bethlehem (Pennsylvania), this is a must for us.
9. White Christmas/Bette Midler
I love Bette’s version of this song.
10. Once in Royal David’s City/Sufjan Stevens
This song is the processional for every Christmas Vespers at my daughter’s school, and it makes me cry every time.
11. Here Comes Santa Claus/Doris Day
I love Doris Day’s happy, classic voice!
12. Santa Claus Is Coming to Town/Bruce Springsteen
Now we are really feeling the Christmas Spirit! It’s the Jersey Shore version!
13. Must Be Santa/Bob Dylan
Wow. Bob lets it rip on this one!
14. Kay Thompson’s Jingle Bells/Andy Williams
When I was a kid, it wasn’t Christmas till The Andy Williams Christmas Special was on TV—fake snow included! Kay Thompson is the author of the Eloise books and also a sometime actress and songstress. I found this by chance and love, love, love it!
15. Baby, It’s Cold Outside/Margaret Whiting and Johnny Mercer
The original.
16. Blue Christmas/Elvis Presley
Great to sing along to.
17. 2,000 Miles/Pretenders
Following Blue Christmas we continue with a bit more longing and sadness, which accompanies every holiday to some extent. Isn’t there always someone missing?
18. I’ll Be Home for Christmas/Kenny Chesney
Sweet, with hints of a Christmas beach vacation.
19. O Holy Night/Sufjan Stevens
Another churchy classic, in a good way!
And once again, thanks to Spotify, you can stream the entire playlist here:
What songs would make your Christmas playlist? Let me know in the comments!
nice
I was waiting to see Bruce on the list – always a favorite! I grew up listening to Andy Williams, so I had to buy his Christmas CD when I was on my own. I also loved “Christmas with the King Family”. My current favorites are Wayne Watson’s “For Such A Time As This”, “Hallelujah Chorus” (always makes me cry when it is sung in church), Donna Summer’s “Christmas Spirit”, Yutaka’s “This Christmas” and Annie Lennox’s “Walking in a Winter Wonderland”. Thanks for sharing your list and Merry Christmas!
I’m partial to the She & Him: A Very She & Him Christmas album myself! But you can also never go wrong with Elvis Christmas music. 🙂
Good choices, all. I would have to add “Walking in the Air” from the beautiful animated film, THE SNOWMAN (original book by Raymond Briggs.) I remember hearing this song on the radio for the very first time while I was driving somewhere, and I had to pull over and stop and just listen. It’s everything you want a winter/Christmas song to be–haunting, thrilling, magical.
Thanks for the post!
We love “Hard Candy Christmas” by Dolly Parton and we’re not even country music fans. “Silent Night” by Boyz to Men is beautiful! Other fun songs are “Shake It Up” by Train and “Christmas Time” by Bare Naked Ladies.
I love A Jazzy Christmas! You nailed it with the others. Don’t forget Luther Vandross Christmas album. Soulful.
Oops! I forgot, Christmastime is Here, from A Charlie Brown Christmas, plus the music from the whole program!
“Maybe This Christmas”, Ron Sexsmith. Just completely moving and simple and gorgeous. Fills my heart – and my eyes – every single time.
Loved the list, Maria!
Hi Maria, I love your choices. How about this new tune I wrote with two-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author Elizabeth Massie? We met in a Facebook club I started years ago called the Gratitude Club. All people are allowed to do there is post things they are grateful for. You learn a lot about people seeing things they appreciate every day. Elizabeth and I became friends and she said she really liked my music. One day she e-mailed a Christmas poem she had written to me and asked if I would be interested in setting it to music. I loved it and right away a melody came to me. I recorded it and we made a nice video to go along. We’ve never met, as she is in Virginia and I in Los Angeles, but we make a good team. I hope you will give it a listen, and have a Merry Christmas! https://youtu.be/ZB2hNDbHn8o
ugh, after I submited that post about my song I saw the typo in the first line that says “I write with” instead of “I wrote with”. If you could fix it I would appreciate it! Thanks.