Gettin' in the Holiday Sprit

It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas was going to be doomed this year. I’m the type that breaks out the holiday tunes the second the dessert dishes are washed and put away on Thanksgiving Day. However, when I went to look for my Christmas music this year, it was nowhere to be found.

I started to panic. I tore up our guest room, thinking it may be in an unpacked box leftover from our move almost a year ago. Nope. Not there. I scoured CD albums, coming across such gems as MoKenStef and SWV. Nope. Not there either. It looked like I was going to have to rely on Pandora’s schizophrenic suggestions for the holidays. Sigh.

For days I listened to Pandora and suffered through suggestions like Andrea Bocelli’s rendition of “Do You See What I See?” (or was that song Do You Hear What I Hear?) and Michael Bublé’s attempts at being a daddy-o. I was really trying to get in the holiday spirit and even tried to dress my dog up like Santa (to which he almost bit my arm off), but it just didn’t feel the same.

Then yesterday, my $10 fake Christmas tree that I ordered off of Amazon came in the mail. I got all excited until I opened it, and discovered that I got such a great deal because it has about 4 branches and sheds as though it were a living tree. The vacuum is still a necessary accessory to our holiday foliage. It was also a whole foot shorter than it said it was on the site. Nonetheless, I trudged down to our garage and pulled out my ornament box, when I saw another box that was underneath it. I could not remember what had been packed in it, so I opened it up to find MY CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!

I ran back upstairs and played ALL of it for a good 5 hours straight, repeating favorites and dancing around the living room. I sang to my puppy that all I wanted for Christmas was him, and forced him (and my neighbors) to listen to me attempt Mariah’s vocal stylings. But the gem amongst my Christmas tunes is Hanson’s Christmas album, “Snowed In.” Even though it’s apparent the brothers were going through puberty at the time of this recording, I still can’t help but mmmbop around to their voice-cracking rendition of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” I know I’m closer to 30 than I am to 13, but this album brings back good holiday memories for me, and it never feels like Christmas without it. I can’t fail to mention my love of N*SYNC’s “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays” song either.

Don’t worry. I do have some taste in Christmas music. I already mentioned Mariah Carey, and I have a spot in my heart for all of the old classics sang by Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. I finally got the Christmas spirit back!

My boyfriend did tell me to stop singing yesterday. I told him to get used to it if he’s planning on sticking around.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but it ain’t the holidays without Hanson.