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So, you should know that Chris is a real Ebenezer when it comes to Christmas music. He thinks a lot of Cmas songs are really annoying. (I'll let him elaborate on this in his comments for this CD.) So, I said, "Well what kind of Christmas music do you like?" I challenged him to show me by creating a CD of his favorite Christmas songs.

So, I still made it my goal to get my three pet artists onto this CD. Sting has some Christmas songs, so that wasn't terribly difficult. I really like his version of "I Saw Three Ships" a lot. The Beatles are represented by selections from both John Lennon and Paul McCartney in their post-Beatles days. And I was able to miraculously find "O Tannenbaum" by They Might Be Giants. (I say "miraculously" because it isn't very characteristic of them to do Christmas songs. They're more Halloween types.)

George Winston's "Skating" always makes me think of my former roommate Susie (Rigby) Larson. She really loved this song a lot, so it makes me happy to think of her.

Chris really hates the track "All I Want for Christmas." He makes me skip it every time we listen to the CD. It's too bad because I think this song is really cute---esp. the Spike Jones original. He says he would normally hate the Chipmunk song, but he doesn't for some reason.

The reason I hate most Christmas songs is simple, they're overplayed. That's why most of the songs on my Christmas CD are ones that you don't hear very often.

The other reason I hate most Christmas songs is that somewhere along the way, they were ruined for me, whether it was Michael Bolton's version of "Santa Clause is Comin' to Town," or Barbara Streisand's version of "Jingle Bells" there's always some pop superstar ready to ruin a Christmas song for me.

That being said, I did include a couple of pop Christmas songs on here--three by Jewel, and one by Garth Brooks. Honestly, when I listen to the CD now, I wish I hadn't. (Maybe I would keep "Gloria.")

In fact, I'm not all that happy with the way this CD turned out. Most of the songs I included are songs "good enough" versions of songs that I really love ("Sivler Bells" is a good example of this; so is "What Child is This") I still have yet to hear the perfect version of "O Holy Night" and would be interested in any recommendations.

Here are the songs from this album that I absolutely love: "Here We Come A-Caroling" (a great a cappella version), The selections from Handel's Messiah, and "Homeless" which against my better judgement almost always makes me cry when I hear it.

Halfway through making this CD I gave up and just included songs that have strong sentimental value for me and family, which is why the Muppets, "Merry Snoopy's Christmas," and the Grinch appear at the end.

Side note: "Mary Had A Baby" is a gift from a family friend. I have no clue who sings this song, but my family really liked it, so here it is.