holiday music

Now for my favorite kind of holiday music: Jazz and swing! These are the songs that truly make me feel festive and happy. The swingy ones make me want to dance and the jazzy ones are best enjoyed while sipping a holiday cocktail and gazing thoughtfully at a well-decorated tree. Personal faves off this list include "Cool Yule" by the great Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington's rendition of "Jingle Bells," and the father-daughter two-punch right to the feelings: the Natalie Cole/Nat King Cole duet on "The Christmas Song."

I hope all your festivities are bright and fun! To check out some of my favorite holiday tunes, read more

Many people complain about the holiday tunes that drive them completely insane this time of year, especially since holiday songs are practically inescapable, no matter what you do. At the drug store, the gas station, restaurants — they're everywhere! So it's truly impressive that there are still some seasonal songs that don't make us want to grab the earmuffs.

It may be because of my love for Love Actually, but I never tire of hearing "All I Want For Christmas Is You." Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" actually has the reverse effect that it has on many people: It makes me happy. I also like most versions of "Joy to the World" (especially the Whitney Houston version featured in The Preacher's Wife), perhaps because it's, well, joyful. And not that it's as "everywhere" as other tunes, but Otis Redding's "Merry Christmas Baby" never fails to make me feel good.

What about you? Are there any songs this season that put a little bounce in your step no matter how often you hear them?

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No, not every song on this playlist is "rock," but they all rock in their own ways, and they're all fun. I enjoy some of the new takes on old favorites that have come out over the past few years (Aimee Mann's songs, Sufjan Stevens's holiday CD box set), and of course, there are a few shout-outs to rockin' holiday tunes that aren't too recent ("Christmas in Hollis" and "Run Rudolph Run"). The one sure thing is that these are not your traditional old carols.

What are your favorite rockin' modern(ish) holiday songs? To check out a playlist of some of my personal favorites, read more

Every year on Thanksgiving, my dad hauls out his all-time favorite holiday albums: the Time-Life Treasury of Christmas discs, Nat King Cole's album The Christmas Song, and (his most recent favorite) Diana Krall's Christmas Songs. Sure, we're all driven mad by the repetition of these albums by the time Christmas arrives, but it is tradition that they begin their (heavy) rotation on Thanksgiving Day, and we don't mess with that.

Later on we'll all watch our usual holiday movies together (It's a Wonderful Life, The Homecoming, White Christmas), and I have a long-standing tradition with a friend in which we watch The Preacher's Wife (the one with Whitney Houston . . . what? It's very sweet!) every year. And though I might have outgrown this tradition now, as a kid I used to spend every New Year's Eve holding movie marathons with my parents.

What about you? Do you watch specific movies, like A Charlie Brown Christmas, every year? Does this Thanksgiving weekend begin the holiday season in your home like it does in mine?

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