Favorite Christmas music

Right now I'm listening to Adagio Trio's Winter Gift cd. It is gorgeous instrumental music: harp, flute and cello. This has a few songs I don't usually see on Christmas collections: "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence," "Of the Father's Love Begotten." Perfect for a quiet night.

Other favorites:

"Tis the Season: Christmas Guitar" by Dick Freymuth. I really like guitar music.

"A Scottish Christmas" because we like Scottish music.

Third Day's "Christmas Offerings" because I like rock and roll. I also have a few of the "Very Special Christmas" cds, from back when those included artists like Springsteen and Tom Petty. I don't like all the songs so I don't listen to them all that often.

We also have "Elvis' Christmas," mostly for "Blue Christmas." E hates this so we don't play it too much when she's around. Wow, I can't even find the one we have on Amazon. I didn't realize Elvis had recorded so many Christmas albums. Or maybe they made new covers...

Not strictly music, we love "A Classical Kids' Christmas" for the story as well.

Of course, "The Nutcracker." I had the Andre Previn version on LP years ago; I miss it and should look for it again. The one I have is already in the car and I don't know which version it is; we love it, but...

Also already in the car:

Handel's "Messiah" - a highlights CD by Portland Baroque Orchestra. We also have a full version, but let's face it, the choruses are the best part. I love it hearing my kids sing along. "For unto us a child is born..."

Da Capo Players Christmas Fantasia.

James Taylor at Christmas. JT is a sentimental favorite of mine; there are some good songs but I dislike his rearrangements of some standards. I don't like my Christmas music messed with! I feel the same way about Steven Curtis Chapman's "The Music of Christmas." My kids like it a lot, and many songs are good, but his "Angels We Have Heard On High" just isn't right to me.

There are other Christmas cds here, by Mannheim Steamroller, Ray Charles, BB King. Some Renaissance and Medieval music, some cathedral choirs.

We like a lot of variety here! These were collected over many years; some were given as gifts. We rarely buy more than one a year. Oh, maybe in the first years of marriage when there were two incomes and no kids, we might have gone a little crazy. I guess we built up our library then.

I am missing an important piece of Christmas music: Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." I have to rely on the radio for that one. Maybe this year I'll find that one in the store and add it to the collection.