sounds like christmas

Let the holidays begin! Am finally ready, as evidenced by my prematurely posted December soundtrack. I couldn't talk Curtis into getting our Christmas tree tonight; he just wasn't up for it. I could, however, enjoy a pleasant mix of my favorite December-ish tunes (a list that will undoubtedly grow as the season matures), and draw a plan for where that soon-to-be-purchased, pleasant-smelling pine can makes its home, and in turn, turn our house into a home.

Some songs I like because the light, airy quality seems appropriate for an early-winter snowstorm--the kind of quiet night where you look out the window into your courtyard, streetway, or parking lot (me, alas) and see flakes gathering lazily beneath the beam of a lightpost. (Imogen Heap: Just For Now.)

Others make we want to live, even in dreaded winter--pull on my Sorels, carve snow angels, dip my tongue in a handful of powder--when my body and its unpleasant temperature tell me I'd be better off trading in for a four-month hibernation. (Feist: Mushaboom. First heard in December 2005. Funny how a song can help connect the dots in the unorganized pattern of experiences that shape our lives.)

And then there's the holiday songs, melodies without which the season just wouldn't be complete: They display the universal comfort that accompanies each of us throughout December and keeps us warm and willing to endure hour-long shopping lines, too many uncomfortable office parties and traffic jams brought on by white-outs. They hold the stuff we can't quite put our mittened fingers on--you know, that really good Christmas Eve feeling that we carry in our pockets throughout the month, the kind of feelings that would make us better people if we could tuck them into bed with us every night throughout the year. (Low: Just Like Christmas, and The Raveonettes: The Christmas Song)

Here's to Christmas, and an onslaught of holiday soundtracks, the undying popularity of which has been proven and re-proven with albums by Barbara Streisand and Neil Diamond. Bless their hearts.