12 Songs of Christmas - Intro

 

After rolling out my Top 40 in early 2020, you HAD to know this was coming… I will start posting my favorite “12 Songs of Christmas” on Monday, November 30. When I was writing the entries for the Top 40, I was bummed because when those posts launched in January, I didn’t get to include Christmas music - and I love Christmas music. Christmas songs are just as much a part of me and my story as those 40 tracks, so that list always felt somewhat incomplete.  And I don’t know why, but I guess I just assumed once the Top 40 was done, I would be finished writing about music.  But that hasn’t been the case this year. The Top 40 structure has allowed me to write whenever I want now (here, here, and here) and it’s been a fun premise to keep connecting life stories to songs. So, it was ultimately an easy and obvious decision to do a smaller version of the Top 40 with my favorite Christmas song, thus here we are. -- Like any other kid growing up, Christmas was the greatest. I loved the tree and decorations and presents and school plays - all of it.  But then Christmas and I hit a little bit of a rough patch. Don’t know if everyone knows this, but my ex-fiance and I actually broke up ON Christmas Day when I was 22 years old.  Please believe, we didn’t mean to. We had been struggling in the days leading up to Christmas but tried to call a truce to celebrate the day. I think that truce lasted all of 15 minutes and we started disagreeing again.  My gracious parents (and former marriage counselors!) sat us on the couch and we literally hashed everything out for over 8 hours before finally deciding to call things off. I was shattered. No other way to say it - Christmas SUCKED for the next few years. I got really Scroogy and cynical about Christmas for a while. But as you will see in some of the stories to come, it’s always about the journey. Once I finally remembered that Christmas wasn’t or isn’t about me, but instead about the greatest gift of all, it was easy to fall in love with the season again.

-- Some quick context to this list:

1. I went with 12 songs over 12 Days because that seems to be the socially acceptable number for counting at Christmas. Ironically, “The 12 Days of Christmas” isn’t even on my list but the structure was too easy to pass up. 

2. I personally believe there are two types of Christmas music: (A) Christian songs that predominantly celebrate the birth of Jesus and (B) secular “holiday” songs that are more about Santa and the time of the year. This particular list is completely made of the latter, the more secular holiday songs. I definitely plan on writing about my favorite Christian Christmas songs in the future (it gives me another project to look forward to).

3. Not only did I list my 12 favorite Christmas songs but I also drilled down another layer and included my favorite VERSION of the song. That was a no-brainer in some cases, but was a lot tougher in others. But, ultimately, made the project more thorough and complete.  Just like with my original Top 40, I was ultimately surprised at my list - it’s way more quieter, thoughtful, and introspective overall than I would have expected (but knowing me, that’s probably not THAT surprising). There are a lot of upbeat/classic/traditional Christmas songs I like but most of them just couldn't crack this list. Each of these songs is attached to a memory for me (or I just really freakin' like it) and that’s why they are here. As always, dying to hear from YOU. Let me know your thoughts about my selections and your favorites along the way.