Ring out the Christmas Bells (Just Not Till After Thanksgiving!)

I have a very strict "No Christmas Music Until After Thanksgiving" rule. Years ago I even wrote a letter to the Christian radio station in our town expressing my disappointment that they had started playing Christmas music on October 1! Although I have been called so, I don't think that my desire to hold off on the Christmas music makes me a Scrooge or a Grinch. I love Christmas music! I just think that having to wait for something makes it better! Some things are worth waiting until the right time for. And in my experience, a lot of people who start their Christmas music in October are the same ones who are complaining about how sick of it they are by the week before Christmas!

So I wait. But once Thanksgiving is past, I say "Bring it on!" When I was a kid, we always started our Christmas music listening with Linda McKechnie's "Deck the Halls" from A Hymnworks Christmas. It's a joyful, festive song that seems to capture the excitement of Christmas for me. I have over 14 hours of Christmas music on my iTunes playlist, and those are just my top rated songs! I love the classics like Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters singing "Juh-juh-juh Jingle Bells" and Nat King Cole's wish for "kids from one to ninety-two." Michael Crawford's version of "Mary Did You Know?" always gives me chills. And of course, you have to have a little Josh Groban. I can't get through his "I'll be Home for Christmas" without tearing up. Throw in a little Beach Boys ("Little Saint Nick") and Mariah Carey ("Santa Clause is Coming to Town") to liven up the playlist. And I love it when artists revisit old Christmas hymns. Casting Crowns version of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" really brings out the truth of the song: "God is not dead, nor does he sleep."

So there are a few, and just a few of my favorites. As I said, I have 14 hours worth!

What's on your essential Christmas playlist?