Maryanne Barsotti

I like a sappy Christmas tune as much as the next would-be Santa, but not while the pumpkins are still out.  Call me Scrooge if you must, but I’m a firm believer the holiday season should begin with Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

Period.  End of story.

So since it IS the holiday season, and I posted a few of my favorite movies last week, I thought I’d share some festive music from my iTunes playlist.

Warning, some of these are not your Granny’s Christmas songs.  But I bet she’d be tapping her foot along with them, anyway.

Silent Night, Elvis Presley.  This is by far my favorite rendition of this classic Christmas Song.

Mrs. Santa Claus Ain’t Got Nothing on Me, Little Jackie.  With a little bit of soul, a little bit of R&B, and a little bit of pop, our girl lets her “inner elf hustle on out” and does “twelve days of Christmas in twelve hours”.  Granny knows what I’m talkin’ ‘bout.

Milk and Cookies (‘Til Santa’s Gone), Clint Black.  This five-year-old knows Santa’s favorite snack, but is worried the man in red won’t be able to fit everything he asked for under the tree.  Especially the horse.

Merry Christmas, Baby, The Ramsay Lewis Trio.  This is one sexy tune that.  One can almost picture a couple slow dancing in front of a roaring fire, a silky red dress falling softly to the ground, and …  Ahem.

Baby It’s Cold Outside, Dean Martin.  This may be more of a winter song than a Christmas song, but hey, it’s Dean Martin, whom I’ve always thought the best of all the “crooners”.  Yes, even better than Frank Sinatra.

Get Down for the Holidays, Jennie O., This is from the Target commercials a few years back.  Not sure what it is about this song I like.  Maybe it’s the Simon & Garfunkel-esque sound they’ve got going for them.  Yep, that’s it.

I’ve left out a bunch, I know, but these are my current faves.   The list changes every year.

What gets your bells a jingling’ while you’re trimming, wrapping & shopping for the holidays?

(Fun fact:  Jingle Bells was originally written to celebrate the American Thanksgiving and was titled One Horse Open Sleigh.  And it was the first song broadcast from Space.)