I've been doing some research into Christmas music, and I must say, there is a lot of it out there. Some lists have White Christmas (here done by the Drifters) as the top Christmas song. Others place Happy Xmas (War is Over) the John Lennon song at the top. (The link will take you to Melissa Etheridge's version, just to mix things up a little.) 

And so I've been thinking about what might be my favorite song of the season. When I was a kid, I remember that we had a copy of the Bing Crosby Christmas album that had White Christmas on it. (If you've just got to have the Bingo singing it!) We lived in Laramie, Wyoming at the time, and the idea that Christmas might not have snow seemed very strange to me. And then I found out that the album (an ancient way of recording music onto actual vinyl!) didn't belong to my parents. It was my older brother's. I was shocked. Hal was into Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention at the time. No way he could even have liked Bing Crosby. But he did. We all have our odd little quirks.

And while I do like the song, it's not my personal favorite song of the season. You know, that one song that makes you smile, and maybe get a little teary as it reminds you of Christmas and the tang of snow on the air, cookies baking in the oven, a fire roaring in the hearth. 

Hmm. . . thinking of Bing, there is that duet he did with David Bowie. This goes all the way back to 1977. Crosby had died just that October, this was filmed about a month before that. I remember being surprised to see that Bowie was going to be on Bing Crosby's Christmas special, and watched it just to see what would happen when Ziggy Stardust met Father O'Malley. And what we got was this lovely little duet. I've never really liked The Little Drummer Boy but this turned it into something special. 

Thinking back that far takes me to 1978 and the Star Wars Holiday Special. If you've never heard of it, you really should check out YouTube, where you can find pretty much the whole thing (some people refer to it as the Star Wars Christmas Special - those people are fools). I still get all warm and fuzzy when I think of this scene. (Can you hear the sarcasm dripping off the keyboard?) (The song is over by 3:15. The rest is made up of video clips and a heartwarming scene of Chewbacca at home with his family.)

Another favorite of mine has always been Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow! And after an exhaustive (10 minute) search, I found this version. Normally, I love these tenors both separately and combined. But, they kind of lost their collective minds when it came to song selections for this concert. They even did the aforementioned Happy Christmas. What a train wreck. And, I'm not saying that their version of Let it Snow is good, but it is pretty funny. Domingo is the only one with any idea of how to lighten up for this type of music. 

A true favorite of mine is Silent Night. I think I will always remember the Christmas Eve service where I wanted this song to just have guitar accompaniment. (Check out why from Wikipedia.) I'd somehow forgotten that all of the church lights would be turned out, and that myself and the other guitarist would be playing in the dark. I do know all the verses to the song, but that night, I kept getting them mixed up: singing the first half of the 2nd verse combined with the second half of the 3rd verse, for example. The entire congregation, some 300 people, sang the wrong words right along with me. It was really difficult finding a soft, intimate version of Silent Night. Here's Celtic Woman.  

But, I must admit that none of these songs can make me have that warm, fuzzy, nostalgic feeling. What song does it for me? Snoopy's Christmas. Yup, you heard me. At the end, when the Baron is wishing Snoopy a "Merry Christmas, mein Friend," I even get a little teary-eyed. I know, of all the stupid songs, but this one is it. When I got the record with this song, (it's from 1967, I was 6) I must have played it over and over for 3 or 4 hours. Finally, before he went mad from the repetition, my brother bribed me with 3 Monkees albums and 1 album by Paul Revere and the Raiders to never play Snoopy's Christmas ever again when he was in the house. (I still have those albums.) And I still love Snoopy's Christmas. (I recently discovered that a lot of kids no longer know anything about Snoopy's career as a WWI fighter pilot in his Sopwith Camel doghouse. Or his vendetta against the Red Baron. If you need information, I guess this is as good a place to start as any: Snoopy's Christmas Wikipedia ) 

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!