List #173: Things I Love About the Holidays, Part 3: Here We go a Caroling

I'm at the point in my Christmas cheer that I feel the need to binge on Christmas music. I can already see January creeping up on my calendar and that means the holidays will be over before we know and we'll have plunged into that cold, dark, deep dispair that is January, February, and a whole chunk of March. And nothing really gets you out of that funk no matter how good things in your life are going.

So I just feel like I better get my money's worth on Christmas even when I don't feel like it. This morning I actually found myself seeking out terrestrial radio because I was really sick of the same crap Pandora keeps playing. I wanted the classics, not indie singers reinventing the classics (which I do enjoy most of the time).

What are my classics?

Christmas Song ~ Alvin and the Chipmunks

Reminds me of Christmas at Allegheny. Roommates who always made you laugh. And annual Christmas parties that always included mistletoe in an old barn house that was always roasting.

All I Want for Christmas Is You ~ Mariah Carey

What woman in her 30s doesn't have a soft spot for this song? I love it anyway that I can get it. Girl singing at the of Love Actually? You bet. Mariah Carey, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots? My new holiday favorite. 

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas ~ Judy Garland

Each year as I get older, I find myself feeling overwhelmed with such quick change. I see my own life going in directions that I could have never predicted. And I see my friends doing the same. I see people leave my life and so many wonderful people come into it. It's all a blessing really. But this song always makes me weepy and me wishing for a few more moments with the many people I once loved. And hoping that they are doing alright. 

Last Christmas ~ Wham!

This is my favorite modern day classic. The video is campy, the song contains whispering. But you know what? I unapologetically adore it. It reminds me all of those Christmases when I was so deeply in love, the days right after when I was torn apart, it reminds of me how wonderful life is now. But more than? More than anything? It reminds me of a Christmas spent on Greek Islands. Homesickness and wanderlust. It reminds me of old students and friends who were enamored with a remake . No other song transports me back in time as much so vividly. So much that I remember a television station that just played this video, the remake's video, and a video for a Greek Christmas song on repeat. For hours during the day. It reminds me of bus rides in the dark. But I think I'm saving all of that for another blog post. Just don't try to tell me you don't enjoy this song. Because I don't love it in an ironic way. I love it fiercely.

So dear readers, what songs do you have to seek out each Christmas? Did any of mine make your list?