Good Christmas Songs

Since yesterday I posted about the worst Christmas song ever, today I thought I'd post about the best Christmas songs I've ever heard.

White Christmas sung by Bing Crosby. It is my goal this Christmas to memorize the whistle solo. I'm *this* close to getting it.

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch sung by Thurl Ravenscroft. Is there any other situation where it is acceptable to say "Your heart's an empty hole," or Your soul is an appalling dump heap, overflowing with the most disgraceful assortment of deplorable rubbish imaginable, mangled up in tangled up knot"?

Feliz Navidad sung by Jose Feliciano. It is catchy, and you definitely can't get it out of your head once you've heard it! Plus, it doubles as a New Years song!

Carol of the Bells by David Foster. I just love how this song feels. I always try to clap on the syncopated parts of the string section when they play the bass notes. I'm not very good at it, but it is a fun challenge.

Hark! The Hearld Angels Sing is Mr. Bean's pick for the best Christmas carol ever. "It does the best out of all the hymns of spelling out the redemptive qualities of the Christmas story," he says. Can you tell he has a bachelors degree in music?

Santa Baby sung by Eartha Kitt. I've just rediscovered it this year. The tongue-and-cheek look at an extravagant Christmas list reminds me of the materialism of our culture. I also think it's kinda funny.

The entire Charlie Brown Christmas album. This is a classic for our family. Mr. Bean has almost the entire album memorized for piano. We listen to it nearly year-round.

Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite. This is a great instrumental jazz album. If you are having a Christmas party this year, this would be a good soundtrack for the background!

The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't be Late) by the Chipmunks. Any child of the 80s remembers this song fondly. Let's see a show of hands for who wants a hula hoop this year!

Sleigh Ride by the Boston Pops. I have memories of my dad "conducting" his imaginary orchestra as they played Sleigh Ride when he thought no one was looking. You can count on Dad doing this almost with the same probability of Santa visiting the house on Christmas Eve.

Ok. What did I miss? Share with me so I can load my iPod with the appopriate play-list for the long drive home in a few days.

What's left to do

Don't forget to sign up for our giveaway which ends Monday, December 8 at noon!

I'm nearly ready for Christmas. Go ahead and throw tomatoes. There are a few things I have left to do before I can sit back and enjoy all the holiday has to offer.

I have 3 addresses left to find. (Wade and Jenni, Nicolette, and Kurt and Jen if you are reading this, get them to me pronto.) Once I have all the addresses, phase one of getting the card out is finished. Phase two involves folding the Christmas newsletters I so lovingly wrote (that Mr. Bean hasn't bothered to photocopy for me, yet). Phase three is writing "May your days be merry and bright, and my all your Christmases be white," or something like that in each of the cards. Phase four is putting the photos in the envelopes sealing, stamping and dropping them off at the post office. Lucky for me that I got an e-mail from CVS today telling me those photos are on their way to my local store! I'm excited because I got the prints for 10 cents each. I so totally rock.

I have to finish shopping for Mr. Bean and String Bean. I have one stocking stuffer for String Bean. That's it. You'd think this kid would make a list of what she wants for Christmas. Is that asking too much of a 12 month old? I don't think so. Maybe she'll just get an extra donation to her college fund this year...and the cell phone stocking stuffer so my cell can be mine again. Mr. Bean made me a whopping list of one item. I guess he knows what he's getting. No surprises under the tree this year.

Mr. Bean is one of those "Christmas babies", so I have a birthday to shop for. I already got him tickets to the Bears Jaguars game on Sunday, but that is a bit anti-climatic to have your birthday present 11 days before the big day. So, I'll get him something small to go along with it. My sister, Holly, is a Christmas baby, too, but I got her gifts (Christmas and birthday) mailed to California earlier this week.

I have to wrap about half the gifts I bought. The other half, including those for my parents dog, Leia, and cat, Mango, are already wrapped and in my closet. I suppose I should bring them out and put them under the tree.

That's about it. Today is December 3rd. I'm doing pretty well. How about you? What do you have left to do this season?

True Confessions, Part 1

They say confession is good for the soul, so here goes.

I never really wanted to be an opera singer. There I said it. It's in writing and I can't take it back. I don't really like singing in foreign languages, I like to really understand what I'm singing and have my audience really understand what I'm singing, and not just try to figure it out by my over-exaggerated facial expressions which I was never any good at making anyway. I don't hate singing opera, I have actually really enjoyed it at times, but it was never *really* who I was.

I have a tendency to blown by whatever strong wind that happens by, and well, end up places I don't really want to be. Part of my blog journey will be trying to stand up the gusts and discovering the real Amy.

By the way what I really do want to do is... You know that scene in White Christmas, where Rosemary Clooney has left the inn and took a job at the Carousel Club and she comes out in that fabulous black dress and sings "Love You Didn't Do Right By Me" in front of the live orchestra? That's the kinda singer I always wanted to be.

Edited to add: Thanks to the magnificent Filbert, my nutty husband, for finding the image!