Christmastime: Music To My Ears

I have to admit it: I'm a sucker for  all things Christmas. I always look forward to the day when Sirius XM starts-up their dedicated holiday music channels. I pick the traditional station out of the several offerings--the one that plays the standards with singers like Perry Como, Nat King Cole, and all of the fare that I was raised on.

Now that the Christmas holidays officially start the day after Halloween, on November 1st (that's what Wal Mart wants us to think, anyway), we are now given permission to have two full months of Holly, Jolly Christmas and Rocking Around the Christmas Tree to enjoy. I'm not complaining. Even though the leaves are still stubbornly clinging to the trees (it's November 21st), and I haven't put my warm-weather clothes away because the temps are leveling-out at 65 degrees here in middle Tennessee, I love listening to Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, pretending that the "weather outside is frightful" as I cruise up I-65 toward the mall.

I also love to haul-out all of the holiday movies, dust them off and make plans to upgrade them from DVD to BluRay. Home Alone, Christmas Vacation, The Grinch, and Elf--I named off movies that are fairly new, even though I still love to watch It's A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol in black and white on Christmas Eve. It seems that everyone loves Christmas or they wouldn't put those Christmas scenes in non-Christmas movies to make us feel all warm and cozy.

For me, like many adults, I harken back to the day when I could fall asleep in the back seat of my parent's '57 Chevy, on the way home from a family holiday gathering; when Dad would lift my half-asleep body out of the car, carry me into my warm bed and tuck me in for the night. I must say, I loved doing that for my own kids.

The one holiday event that I refuse to join is getting up at 2 AM to stand in line at Best Buy or Target on Black Friday. I'll let my kids do that. Other than that exception, I'll take everything that Christmas has to give. And it all starts and ends with the music--at least for me.