The Christmas Rush

It seems that I have Christmas denial right now. It is exactly two weeks until Christmas and I still think that it's so far away. I look at my to do list and think "38 presents, I have time" and then I proceed to plan away all of my weekends and have no time to shop. I have a beautiful tree, my classroom is decorated, I've been listening to Christmas music, the play is this Sunday, but still I don't feel like it's really Christmas time.

I think I need to blog about Christmas to help me feel more like this season is truly upon us. Last year I made a complete list of all of my favorite Christmas songs: both secular and Christian. I would love to just copy that here since I wrote better then, but I should do something current to help me get in the spirit. So I have decided to do an in depth analysis of my favorite Christmas voices and their songs.

Karen Carpenter - I love the Carpenter Christmas album because my mom always played it during her Christmas botiques. Her deep voice is so soothing and rich, it instantly calms me. I especially love her rendition of Sleigh Ride and her singing the intro to White Christmas. There's this note she sings when she says, "There's never been such a day in Beverly Hills, LA" the LA is so low, I could never hit it. She reminds me of my mom in that respect too. She sings beautifully and could be a baratone - just like Mom :)

Bing Crosby - White Christmas is just perfect. He's in two of my favorite Christmas movies (Holiday Inn and White Christmas) during which he sings this song. But there is another song that Bing sings that is more about Christmas to me than any other, and that's "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas". That song is one we sing often in my family. Grandpa Dempsey used to play it on his player piano and sing it with us. I've always associated my Grandpa with Bing because of it and that makes me love it. Plus, it's fun to sing "a pair of hop-along boots and a pistol that shoots is the hope of Barney and Ben. Dolls that can talk and will go for a walk is the wish of Janice and Jen" It took years before we got the words right.

Nat King Cole - This man could sing anything and I would love it. But "The Christmas Song" is all Nat. Others have covered it, but it is only Nat King Cole's smooth tones that make the intro "Chesnuts roasting on an open fire" thrilling.

Those weird singers who sing the Drummer Boy song - You know the one that sounds like an all boys choir singing "Come, they told me, pa rum pu pum pum". I just love it.

Amy Grant - she's great and Christmas songs kind of belong to her, but "Mary's Song - Breath of Heaven" is truly genius. It is such a beautiful peice of music independent of words, but then when you add in the perspective of a young girl who is willing to sacrifice all comfort for the plan of God, but still has fears and is looking for the strength of God to pull her through! Wow! What a song! "Do you wonder, as you watch my face, if a wiser one should have had my place. Still I offer all I am. Holy Father to your plan. Help me be strong. Help me be...help me." Great song!

Josh Groban - He was made to sing Christmas songs, any and all. Especially in other languages. Yet "O Holy Night", one of my two favorite Christmas hymns, will make me cry when Josh sings it. It's sad that a boy can sing higher than I can, but that boy can hold a note!

The Muppets - yes, they qualify as a singing group and they happen to sing on one of the best Christmas albums ever! I especially like their version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas." This is because Beaker, the lab assistant who doesn't speak, but 'meeps' sings on one of the days. I laugh every time.

Andrew Peterson - Matthew Begats is one of the funniest Christmas songs and I'm still memorizing it. Andrew basically took the geneology of Jesus from the book of Matthew and turned it into a song. "Abraham had Isaac, Isaac he had Jacob, Jacob he had Judah and his kin." The best lines tell a little bit about the person in the lineage like "Amon who was a man who was father of a good boy named Josiah, who grandfathered Johoiachin who caused the Babylonian captivity because he was a liar." So clever.

I love Christmas. I love singing. I love that I get to play my favorite Christmas music in my classroom and it's ok. Think of all of the words that I play during my class that are ok because it's Christmas! Well, off to bed where I'm sure I'll dream of sugar plumbs or other delights.