My Love For Christmas Music

I seriously love Christmas music; I could listen to it all year round if I could.  It's for this reason my mom created a rule a while back: you can only listen to Christmas music between November 1st and January 6th (Orthodox Christmas).  That's nine weeks of Christmas music, which is a lot to some people, but not to me.  My mom can't take all the credit for this rule, a family friend imposed the same rule on her husband first; it was the only way to stop him from listening to Christmas music non-stop all year round.  After hearing about this rule, my mom decided it was perfect for our family too.  Of course, there's no punishment for breaking said rule, but it's still a rule.  The past week and a half has been especially difficult and challenging for me not to give in, I think because I knew Christmas music was coming, and I just wanted to listen to it as soon as possible.  Now that it's November 1st, however, I can listen to all the Christmas music I want...until January 6th that is.

Every year for the past eight or nine years (at least, possibly longer), I've always started my Christmas music season with the same exact song: "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  It's seriously one of my favorite Christmas songs ever, and the only way to listen to it is as loud as humanly possible, otherwise you can't fully appreciate the rock aspects incorporated into the classic Christmas carol.  The way TSO blends together these techniques while also merging several Christmas songs together to create something entirely new and different.  I had the opportunity to see them perform in high school, and it was an amazing performance with powerful special effects.  When you see them live, the music wraps around you and fills you to your core in a way not possible when you listen to them on your own.  My one tip though: bring sunglasses to wear during the performance.  This might sound strange, but the sheer amount of laser and strobe lights makes it difficult to see.  We saw someone else doing this at the concert and realized that it was a great idea.





My other favorite Christmas song is as different from Christmas Eve/Sarajevo as you can possibly get.  First, a little disclaimer: I've been told by people that I have an old soul.  I'm not entirely sure if I agree with them, but that's what people think.  I was also raised to listen to music such as Neil Diamond, Elton John, Billy Joel, etc.  With that being said, I absolutely LOVE Neil Diamond's version of "Silent Night".  Now, "Silent Night" isn't one of my favorite Christmas songs, not by a long shot.  While I find it beautiful, and the lyrics are gorgeous, it's just not my cup of tea.  When it comes to Neil Diamond's version, however, I can't get enough of it.  The powerful chorus at the end elevates the song to a whole new level, bringing it past the typical somber, lulling version people are used to to something else entirely that causes them to sit up and listen.  Even if you aren't a fan of the song, it's definitely something worth listening to.





For those who know me, all of this must be very contradictory to what you thought you knew, especially if you knew me as a child.  Growing up, my favorite Christmas song was "Little Drummer Boy".  I seriously couldn't get enough of it.  Thankfully, I grew up in a time before parents had the ability to record every little thing their children do, because I used to sit in the back of the car singing along, pretending to play a drum.  It's apparently one of my mom's favorite memories of me as a child.  To me, however, it's absolutely mortifying.  I think this weird obsession with an obviously wonderful song comes from the fact that I used to watch the movie all the time.  That's right, there's a Little Drummer Boy movie.  It's made in the same style as Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer (that super automated stop motion).  I don't know why, but I absolutely loved that movie as a child.  You can even find the entire thing on YouTube (added bonus!).




I have so many more Christmas songs I want to talk about and share, but I don't want to turn today's post into a playlist of YouTube videos with some dialogue scattered between the videos.  So, I'm going to hold off.  I will definitely be back to talk about more Christmas songs, especially given the fact that I bought two new Christmas albums this year and want to let you know what I think of them.  So, be prepared for more Christmas music in the coming weeks, because I seriously can't get enough of it.