Do You Hear What I Hear?

Exactly three weeks from today, it will be CHRISTMAS DAY!!  If you are a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that Christmastime is my favorite time of year.  Along with that goes my love of Christmas music,  So when Favorite Christmas Albums was the topic for this week's Ten on Tuesday, I thought it only appropriate that I shared my favorites.

Needless to say, these are not my only favorites, but these are some that I thought of, and have been listening to already, so here you go in no particular order.

Top Ten  Favorite Christmas Albums

1.  A Christmas Heritage - this truly is a favorite, with some beautiful renditions of some classics, and some new ones I hadn't heard before.  Plus, one of the musicians is someone I went to elementary school with, and whose father was my brother-in-law's first law partner!

2.  The Sound of Christmas - Julie Andrews.  This is one that we got years ago, when Hallmark used to produce CDs or tapes for the Christmas season.  

3.  Christmas with the Cambridge Singers - I'd never heard of the Cambridge Singers when I bought this CD, but I liked the cover, I enjoy choral music, and there were songs I liked on it.  This almost immediately became a favorite, and there are two songs on it that always nearly bring me to tears.

4.  Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer "soundtrack" - This is a cheapo, cheesy CD with the songs from the Rankin-Bass version of the story of Rudolph (with which I am obsessed).  There are really only one or two that are actually recordings from the TV soundtrack - most are covers - but since I like the show and the songs so much, I enjoy this one.

5.  Just in Time for Christmas - Nancy LaMott.  We saw Nancy LaMott in concert a couple of years before her untimely death, and it was great, so when I saw this, buying it was a no-brainer!  It's definitely a good one.

6.  A Christmas Album - James Taylor.  What can I say?  I'd listen to him sing a grocery list.  His version of "In the Bleak Midwinter" is one of my favorites of all time.

7.  The Christmas Album - Libera.  We have several CDs by this choral group of young boys, and the sound is so clear and beautiful, I was excited to see they had a Christmas album.  It's all good, but their addition and cover of Billy Joel's "Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel)" is truly stunning.

8.  Christmas Classics - I think we have several versions of these CDs, with mixes of old standards performed by Frank Sinatra, Rosemary Clooney, Dean Martin - you get the drift.  It's not Christmastime to me without them.

9.  Christmas  - Michael Buble.   I like this because it is evocative to me of the old-time Christmas albums that my parents had.

10.  Christmas Songs - Diana Krall.  I love listening to her, and love Christmas music - you do the math! 

Happy listening and singing along!