R
Rene Ritchie
Holiday music fills our homes, malls, and minds from just about the moment after Thanksgiving until the end of the year. From choirs and orchestras to rock and pop to soundtracks and carollers, it's everywhere and anywhere many of us go. Here are our favorites!
Ally: When I think of Christmas music, I think of my mom who loves holidays more than anyone I know. I have some great memories growing up of decorating the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving, making cookies, and just having coffee or tea on a cold night. Naturally, a lot of the music I grew up listening to, thanks to my mother, has stuck with me. Some of my absolute favorites include songs by Jim Brickman, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Amy Grant, and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Others come from movies we grew up watching around the holidays. The following are the songs and albums that are always on standby each and every holiday season in our house:
- Jim Brickman - The Gift - Download Now A Jolly Christmas with Frank Sinatra - Download Now
- Christmas / Sarajevo 12/24 - Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Download Now
- Home Alone Sountrack - Download Now
- White Christmas - Bing Crosby - Download Now
- The Christmas Collection - Amy Grant - Download Now
Derek: Not gonna lie, I have a soft spot for Christmas music. Even though I refuse to listen to it until after Thanksgiving. I'm a man of rules, dammit. What Christmas music, specifically, you ask? Well, inside that soft spot for Christmas music is a soft spot for the likes of Frank Sinatra, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and similar music. Here's a selection of some of my favorite tracks:
- Angels We Have Heard On High - Aretha Franklin - Download now
- Carol of the Bells - Pentatonix - Download now
- A Christmas Festival - Boston Pops Orchestra and Arthur Fiedler - Download now
- The Christmas Song - Frank Sinatra - Download now
- The Christmas Waltz - Frank Sinatra - Download now
- Frost the Snowman - Glenn Miller Orchestra - Download now
- Greensleeves - Vince Guaraldi Trio - Download now
- Mis Deseos / Feliz Nevidad - Michael Bublé - Download now
- O Holy Night - Studio 60 - Download now
- Jingle Bells - Michael Bublé and the Puppini Sisters - Download now
- Sleigh Ride - Glenn Miller Orchestra - Download now
- This Christmas - Pentatonix - Download now
- What Child Is This - Vince Guarldi Trio - Download now
Peter: I'm an unabashed fan of rock and pop music, the cheesier the better. I misspent my teenage years in the 1980s, which means I'm squarely fixated on music from that era as well. So when it comes to Christmas music, these are some of my favorites. I've thrown in a few classics to round things out too, and one that one of my coworkers at the store, Annie, suggested (The Pogues).
- The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You) - Nat King Cole - Download now
- Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses - Download now
- Christmas in Hollis - Run DMC - Download now
- Fairytale of New York (featuring Kirsty MacColl) - The Pogues - Download now
- I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas - Gayle Peevey - Download now
- Last Christmas - Wham - Download now
- Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee - Download now
- Wonderful Christmastime - Paul McCartney - Download now
Rene: Don't hate me. I don't listen to much music during the year — I watch videos at home and listen to podcasts when I drive — and if it were up to me I'd listen to just as little during the holidays. But it's not up to me, it's up to my family. And they drive me next to mad with an almost constant stream of music. (I'll never admit it, but part of me appreciates it.) So, what do I like? The African sounds of my birthplace, the majestic voices of Canada, and anything and everything that's either a true classic, or turns the classics upside down.
- Season's Greetings - Drakensberg Boys Choir - Download now
- Christmas of Love - Isador and the Inquisitors - Download now
- That's Christmas To Me - Pentatonix - Download now
- The Perfect Gift - The Canadian Tenors - Download now
- Wintersong - Sarah McLachlan - Download now
Ren: My parents' household was a classical music household, which meant lots of instrumental and choral tunes flooding the house from December 1 onward. I have a fondness for my classical roots and traditional 60s tunes, but also a great love for newer, subtly-holiday-themed music. Here's a (small) excerpt from my holiday playlist.
- Twelve Days of Christmas - Boston Pops - Download Now
- Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - Brenda Lee - Download Now
- I Hear the Bells - Mike Doughty - Download Now
- Let it Snow - Dean Martin Download Now
- Linus and Lucy - Vince Guaraldi Trio - Download Now
- Hark the Herald Angels Sing - Boston Pops - Download Now
- Skating - Vince Guaraldi Trio Download Now
- Christmastime in Tinseltown - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Download Now
- O Tannenbaum - Vince Guaraldi Trio Download Now
- A Christmas Scherzo - Boston Pops - Download Now
- White Christmas - Bing Crosby - Download Now{.nofollow)
- You're a Mean One, Mr Grinch - Thurl Ravenscroft - Download Now
- The Chipmunk Song - The Chipmunks - Download Now
- Mr. Heatmiser - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy - Download Now
- Dominic the Donkey - Lou Monte - Download Now
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