I know I’ve mentioned this (many times) before, but Christmas music is kind of a big deal around here.  We take it very seriously.  And I don’t think a holiday season has gone by on this here blog without me mentioning some of my favorites as well as some of the songs that I loathe with every fiber of my being.  And guess what?  I’m going to do it again.  Because, surely, there are some people reading this year who didn’t read last year and therefore might be under the mistaken assumption that I actually ENJOY Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime”.  And I CANNOT LET THAT BE.  And if you have been around, you may have forgotten.  So here’s a refresher course on acceptable (and unacceptable) Christmas music.

Loooooove these songs!

• The Twelve Pains of Christmas by Bob Rivers.
  
  This brings me such joy.  Particularly the bit about “rigging up the lights”.
• Do They Know It’s Christmas by Band Aid
  
  No song makes me feel as tingly and guilty and sad and happy all at once.  And Bono’s line has got to be best line in a Christmas song EVER.  It’s not Christmas until you’ve heard this one.
• Sleigh Ride by Leroy Anderson
  
  Truly the best version of this song.  It was featured in a Gap Christmas ad several years ago, which is where I first was turned onto it’s awesomeness.  And now, it lives on in our canon with it’s “whip cracks” (which is delightful for slapping my dog’s rear) (oh, don’t worry, she likes it).  Just TRY not to get in the mood with this song on.
• Christmas Is All Around by Billy Mack
  
  Yes, it’s actually Bill Nighy and it’s from the movie “Love Actually” (LOVE that movie!!).  It’s crass and wonderful.  And catchy!  Solid gold shit, maestro!
• Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Lou Rawls
  
  I like some of the more melancholy versions of this song too (it’s hard to find a good version of this song) (but I’m sure Paul McCartney could manage it), but this one is my most absolute favorite.  It’s jazzy, swing-y and smokey.  It’s fabulous.  Makes me wanna get my groove on.

And, of course, the flip side of the coin…

HAAAAAAATE these songs:

• Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney.  I refuse to display this song on my precious blog.  But if you simply must hear it, feel free to click the link.  This is a big reason why I don’t like to listen to the Christmas music stations here locally.  Because once they play “Wonderful Christmastime”, the station becomes dead to me.  It’s like nails on a chalkboard.
• Christmas Shoes by NewSong.  This song has NO redeeming qualities.  It’s a pile of manipulative, schmaltzy crap.  HATE HATE HATE.  And if you think I display contempt for this song, I’ve got nothing on Kile.  He positively loathes this one.

Those are the big ones, at least.  So what tops your list?  What is your favorite Christmas song/version?  Your least?  (And do you want to tear your ears off whenever you hear “The Little Drummer Boy”, like I do?)

Warning!  If you are a brother or sister to me (via blood or marriage), I advise you to skip this post.  Unless you really want to have your Christmas gift spoiled.  Turn away now and save the surprise for Christmas morning!

There.  Now that that’s out of the bag, I wanted to share with you the contents of the gift bags we put together for our siblings and their families this holiday season.  Partially so I have a record of the awesomeness we put together this year (direct quote from Harry: “We’ve worked harder on Christmas this year than we ever have before!”), and partially so that if there are any of you who are looking for ideas for homemade, handmade and inexpensive gifts, then maybe this would be an interested read for you.  Anyhow, sorry for the lack of pictures but I was uber-lame and didn’t take pictures of anything before we got it all bagged and boxed up.  Whoops. I’ll try to find links where I can though to make up for it, deal?

• The first thing is the picture of the three kids in wallet size.  We then matted that on some fancy red and white paper and then put it in a wooden frame that we painted white and decorated with little Christmas baubles.  I also painted wooden “phrases” (such as Believe, Hope, Joy, Noel…etc) and those were glued to the top of the frame.
• Chocolate molded Christmas tree pretzel rods and chocolate molded Santa Claus’ on a candy cane.  Wrapped up in little candy bags and tied with a bow.
• Plastic bin filled with homemade peanut brittle
• Plastic bin filled with homemade fudge
• Various and sundry handmade ornaments, mostly made by Harry.
• A Christmas Mix CD compiled by yours truly.  It features some seriously awesome Christmas songs.
• In the bags that are going to houses where there are little kids, we’ve included the appropriate number of craft kits.  One bag includes a ‘Snowman Making Kit‘ and another includes a couple of flower fairies that I made at a craft day event.
• Most of the bags include a book or two.  I got a lot of free books this year, some I barely cracked the spine on.  I sent these on to homes I felt were appropriate for them.
• A fancy-schmancy Christmas card, including our fabulous holiday letter.
• Each of these items were packed into a new reuseable shopping bag from our local Whole Foods store.  As a bonus, Whole Foods had a special holiday edition of their shopping bag so we got those.

The whole thing was then wrapped up in cellophane and tied closed with a golden ribbon.  Voila!  So what do you think?  Will these make nice presents?  Will the recipients appreciate the effort?  A lot of work though it was, it was kind of fun putting these together.  Maybe we’ll do it again next year.  Maybe we won’t.  We’ll see how these go over first!