# Do you generally embrace or shun Christmas music?



## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

Do you generally embrace or shun Christmas music? Inquiring minds want to know!


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

If it is Slade or Leroy Anderson, I'll embrace it.
The best Xmas song ever for me is 'Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas', such a beautiful sentiment and tune...."next year all our troubles will be out of sight"...here's hoping.

And then....

"Someday soon, we all will be together,
If the fates allow,
Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow.......

If that aint the new anthem for this Xmas, I don't know what is.....


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

Over the years, I have accumulated quite a collection of Christmas music, from the traditional carols, to Polish ones (in Polish), and presentations that include being played on glass harmonicas and music boxes.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Carols and classical Christmassy stuff I don't mind but if I never hear the ubiquitous pop offerings from Shakin' Stevens, Bing Crosby, Cliff Richard, Live Aid etc. for another 100 years it will still be too soon.


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## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

Christmas music by Vaughan Williams (Hodie) and Handel's Messiah along with a few other bits and pieces I listen to but I try and keep it to a couple weeks around the end of December.
Christmas Carols I don't care for - as for pop songs I try to avoid, which is virtually impossible given that shops invariably play them on a loop from about now until the end of the year, however there is one exception I always give the ZE Records Christmas album an outing - largely because the songs are on the whole far from the cheesy pop classics.

So I guess I'm a fence sitter - I don't embrace but don't totally actively ignore.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

I embrace it , cant wait to start, all kinds.


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

There is plenty of Christmas music I love.


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## NoCoPilot (Nov 9, 2020)

Same old tired sappy xmas songs, done over and over by every vocalist or instrumentalist whose career is on the rocks. I generally can't listen to the radio at all in December.


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## Dorsetmike (Sep 26, 2018)

Living alone, for me it's just another day.


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## Ich muss Caligari werden (Jul 15, 2020)

I sure do enjoy Classical Christmas Music, inc. old carols, Praetorius and the lot. Some of my favorites are pictured below. I cannot abide - to the point of active suicidal ideation - the pop fare that's fed us over store sound systems; esp. despised are: McCartney's _Wonderful Christmas Time _ and Feliciano's _Feliz Navidad_ and several others - thanks bunches for making me think of them  and a Very Messy Christmas to all at TC (courtesy of Black Adder).


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## BlackAdderLXX (Apr 18, 2020)

I love Christmas, or as my 17 yo son and I call it... "Die Hard Season". 
Every year we play Christmas music all December. I usually get a new album every year - this year is going to be Gergiev's Nutcracker. I love Bing Crosby and Michael Buble and A Christmas Story and It's a Wonderful Life. But it's not Christmas until Hans Gruber falls from the top of the Nakatomi building.


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## BlackAdderLXX (Apr 18, 2020)

Ich muss Caligari werden said:


> I cannot abide - to the point of active suicidal ideation - the pop fare that's fed us over store sound systems; esp. despised are: McCartney's _Wonderful Christmas Time _ and Feliciano's _Feliz Navidad_ and several others - thanks bunches for making me think of them  and a Very Messy Christmas to all at TC (courtesy of Black Adder).


You're welcome.


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

BlackAdderLXX said:


> I love Christmas, or as my 17 yo son and I call it... "Die Hard Season".
> Every year we play Christmas music all December. I usually get a new album every year - this year is going to be Gergiev's Nutcracker. I love Bing Crosby and Michael Buble and A Christmas Story and It's a Wonderful Life. But it's not Christmas until Hans Gruber falls from the top of the Nakatomi building.


yippeee kayay Mother F


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

BlackAdderLXX said:


> I love Christmas, or as my 17 yo son and I call it... "Die Hard Season".
> Every year we play Christmas music all December. I usually get a new album every year - this year is going to be Gergiev's Nutcracker. I love Bing Crosby and Michael Buble and A Christmas Story and It's a Wonderful Life. But it's not Christmas until Hans Gruber falls from the top of the Nakatomi building.


So, what you are saying is that Hans Gruber is something like your New Year's Day crystal ball in Times Square?

I believe that the world is substantially divided into two groups: Those who consider Die Hard to be a Christmas movie, and those who do not. (I categorize those few who may not actually have seen the film as falling in the latter group.)


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## Jacck (Dec 24, 2017)

I can't wait to hear Jingle Bells again


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## Guest002 (Feb 19, 2020)

It was always _Zulu_ in our house.

Zebras for courses, I suppose...


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## BlackAdderLXX (Apr 18, 2020)

JAS said:


> So, what you are saying is that Hans Gruber is something like your New Year's Day crystal ball in Times Square?


That's exactly what I'm saying



JAS said:


> I believe that the world is substantially divided into two groups: Those who consider Die Hard to be a Christmas movie, and those who do not. (I categorize those few who may not actually have seen the film as falling in the latter group.)


I prefer to use the terms good and evil, but hey, it's almost Christmas, we can be magnanimous. 
Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho.


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## Guest (Nov 16, 2020)

AbsolutelyBaching said:


> *It was always Zulu in our house*.
> 
> Zebras for courses, I suppose...


:lol::lol::lol:

Nothing says "y Nadolig" (Christmas)" in Wales like a full-throated rendition of "Men of Harlech" when gathered around the festive holiday table!






_Unrhyw siawns eich bod chi'n Gymraeg mewn gwirionedd ac yn siarad yr iaith?

Oni bai fy mod yn camgymryd yn fawr, credaf mai chi yw'r aelod a oedd ar un adeg yn cael ei alw'n "Dizwell". Os felly, gadewch imi estyn fy nghanmoliaeth ar ansawdd eich ysgrifau - maent bob amser yn ddiddorol ac yn addysgiadol.
_


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## Bourdon (Jan 4, 2019)

Jacck said:


> I can't wait to hear Jingle Bells again


You must be a beggar for peace.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

It's almost time to break out two of my favorite Christmas cds:


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## Guest002 (Feb 19, 2020)

Dylan and the Band said:


> :lol::lol::lol:
> 
> Nothing says "y Nadolig" (Christmas)" in Wales like a full-throated rendition of "Men of Harlech" when gathered around the festive holiday table!
> 
> ...


Yn anffodus, nid wyf yn Gymraeg.

Ond diolchaf ichi am eich canmoliaeth rasol am fy sgriptiau beth bynnag!

Ac ydw: Spartacus ydw i (er, Dizwell)


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

This is feeling a bit like a "Miracle on 34th Street" moment, where Kris Kringle replies to the little Dutch girl in her native tongue.


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

Love/hate relationship with Christmas music. Love all the carols and always listen to the Christmas Oratorio and Messiah (the former I like more than the latter) but hate all the schmaltzy, ingratiating, sentimental, in your face, psychopathically extroverted, attention demanding renditions by pop artists.

It is possible to find decent collections of Christmas music, but it's not easy. Most of the Christmas Carols, if they're sung straight (like good Irish music without all the lily-gilding new age crap) can be beautiful. I even like the X-Mas showtunes from the 40s and 50's before later arrangements trussed them up like gaudy neon signs.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

Neither. I ignore it.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

vtpoet said:


> Love/hate relationship with Christmas music. Love all the carols and always listen to the Christmas Oratorio and Messiah (the former I like more than the latter) but hate all the schmaltzy, ingratiating, sentimental, in your face, psychopathically extroverted, attention demanding renditions by pop artists.
> 
> It is possible to find decent collections of Christmas music, but it's not easy. Most of the Christmas Carols, if they're sung straight (like good Irish music without all the lily-gilding new age crap) can be beautiful. I even like the X-Mas showtunes from the 40s and 50's before later arrangements trussed them up like gaudy neon signs.


I am not into any pop music, but I find, especially as I get older, that I rather enjoy the sentimental aspects of Christmas. What I despise is the increasingly commercial aspects.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

I embrace my favorite Christmas recordings, and shun the crap that constitutes 90% of what's out there.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

elgars ghost said:


> Carols and classical Christmassy stuff I don't mind but if I never hear the ubiquitous pop offerings from Shakin' Stevens, Bing Crosby, Cliff Richard, Live Aid etc. for another 100 years it will still be too soon.


This. Love the classic hymns and carols, but the poppy stuff does me in just like any other pop music. There does come a point, too, where hearing the tunes nonstop for two months gets a little tiresome.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

Having been born early in December, I refuse to star thinking much about it until after my birthday. The pushing of Christmas as early as Labor Day is really annoying.


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## SanAntone (May 10, 2020)

JAS said:


> Having been born early in December, I refuse to star thinking much about it until after my birthday. The pushing of Christmas as early as Labor Day is really annoying.


I was born two days before Christmas. But my parents made a point of not letting it get subsumed into Jingle Bells, etc.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

SanAntone said:


> I was born two days before Christmas. But my parents made a point of not letting it get subsumed into Jingle Bells, etc.


That is a hard burden. I know one person who was born on Christmas, and he and his parents celebrated his birthday at the end of June, to intentionally avoid merging the two things. (That did make some things a bit complicated.)


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

BlackAdderLXX said:


> But it's not Christmas until Hans Gruber falls from the top of the Nakatomi building.


hahahahaha :lol: 
Thank you for this :tiphat:


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## Botschaft (Aug 4, 2017)

Christmas pop songs might be my least favorite kind of music. Hymns and sacred works however is a different matter entirely.


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

I like pop Christmas as long as it's the older classic Christmas recordings; stuff like Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Dean Martin, Johnny Cash, Nat "King" Cole", Mario Lanza, Motown Christmas, etc.; and I detest Christmas music been played any time before the day AFTER Thanksgiving. 

For classical, there are two exemplar Christmas albums: Luciano Pavarotti and Jessye Norman.

I also like Leonard Bernstein's Christmas album that he made with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir; it's over-the-top. 

Apart from that I really like the old English choirs: King's College College Choir, Cambridge Choir, St. John's Choir etc.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

For me, the worst is asking my “smart assistant” (“Alexa”) to play classical Christmas music and getting endless tracks of Andrea Bocelli. Other people say, “He has the most beautiful voice ever!” I think he’s about the most nasally, sappy, most unattractive singer I’ve ever heard.


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

Considering that Handel's Messiah is traditionally Christmas music, I will have to say that I embrace it.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I'm already listening to Christmas music. All the leaves have dropped, it's getting colder. What else is there? 

I am disappointed that because of COVID I had to take a pass on having my Christmas band play at the local Christmas show. The last thing we need in a closed room is 20 horn players blowing full tilt.


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## Guest (Nov 16, 2020)

Manxfeeder said:


> I'm already listening to Christmas music. All the leaves have dropped, it's getting colder. What else is there?
> 
> I am disappointed that because of COVID I had to take a pass on having my Christmas band play at the local Christmas show. The last thing we need in a closed room is 20 horn players blowing full tilt.


Have your Christmas band do it virtually - like this clip - and then post it here -


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Dylan and the Band said:


> Have your Christmas band do it virtually - like this clip - and then post it here -


If I had a band as talented as that one, I would!


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

Manxfeeder said:


> I'm already listening to Christmas music. All the leaves have dropped, it's getting colder. What else is there? . . .


I am still mostly watching DVDs of old horror movies to avoid hearing more news about how much worse the COVID situation is getting. (I made some exception to note that vaccines are proceeding, with great promise, but will probably not be available to most of us until June or thereabouts).


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## Flamme (Dec 30, 2012)

I really, really DIG both xmas and everything that surrounds it, thus the music...


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## Dorsetmike (Sep 26, 2018)

I do enjoy this group's take on carols though; much better than the kids who from early November on would to hammer on the door, bellow (out of tune) "We wish you a merry Christmas" until you opened the door then held their hands out for money - tht sort got nowt.


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

JAS said:


> I am still mostly watching DVDs of old horror movies to avoid hearing more news about how much worse the COVID situation is getting. (I made some exception to note that vaccines are proceeding, with great promise, but will probably not be available to most of us until June or thereabouts).


Totally with you on that. I was just cruising through Netflix and gonna watch _Andromeda Strai_... Wut? No. Here we go. Just sittin' down with _Z, World War_... Wait. Wut? Crap. Here we go. Popcorn and _Outbrea_... No. Damn it. Me and Netflix. Yes Sir! Gonna watch _Quaranti_... Damn it! Okay. Seriously. Just gonna relax with _Days Late..._ Wut? No. How about _Contagio_... Frik. Forget it. Just forget it.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

vtpoet said:


> Forget it. Just forget it.


My wife and I are watching Hallmark and Lifetime movies, like A Yule Blog Christmas (those names - wow!). They're so mindnumblingly predictable, and everyone ends up happy. That's about all I can handle right now.


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

Manxfeeder said:


> My wife and I are watching Hallmark and Lifetime movies, like A Yule Blog Christmas (those names - wow!). They're so mindnumblingly predictable, and everyone ends up happy. That's about all I can handle right now.


Yeah. I'm with you. Even my music has to have a happy ending. At minimum, a Picardy Third.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

vtpoet said:


> Totally with you on that. I was just cruising through Netflix and gonna watch _Andromeda Strai_... Wut? No. Here we go. Just sittin' down with _Z, World War_... Wait. Wut? Crap. Here we go. Popcorn and _Outbrea_... No. Damn it. Me and Netflix. Yes Sir! Gonna watch _Quaranti_... Damn it! Okay. Seriously. Just gonna relax with _Days Late..._ Wut? No. How about _Contagio_... Frik. Forget it. Just forget it.


Yes, and I also don't recommend 28 Days or 28 Days Later, or any disease based horror. Generally, I prefer my horror movies of old-fashioned monsters, where good triumphs over evil, even if the bad guy might survive to make a sequel,


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

Manxfeeder said:


> My wife and I are watching Hallmark and Lifetime movies, like A Yule Blog Christmas (those names - wow!). They're so mindnumblingly predictable, and everyone ends up happy. That's about all I can handle right now.


I believe that it was determined some time ago that there is really only one Hallmark/Lifetime movie. They just make it over and over again with different casts.


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## Ich muss Caligari werden (Jul 15, 2020)

vtpoet said:


> Totally with you on that. I was just cruising through Netflix and gonna watch _Andromeda Strai_... Wut? No. Here we go. Just sittin' down with _Z, World War_... Wait. Wut? Crap. Here we go. Popcorn and _Outbrea_... No. Damn it. Me and Netflix. Yes Sir! Gonna watch _Quaranti_... Damn it! Okay. Seriously. Just gonna relax with _Days Late..._ Wut? No. How about _Contagio_... Frik. Forget it. Just forget it.


For a real psychological treat, try watching Bergman's _Seventh Seal _ in this, our Plague Year. My wife and I did that and regretted it. All too real; we are all playing chess with Death.


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## vtpoet (Jan 17, 2019)

JAS said:


> Yes, and I also don't recommend 28 Days or 28 Days Later, or any disease based horror. Generally, I prefer my horror movies of old-fashioned monsters, where good triumphs over evil, even if the bad guy might survive to make a sequel,


My all time favorite horror movie (seen as a child in reruns):

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050414/?ref_=tt_urv

Scared the living pejayzus out of me. And now, because we're on a Classical Music forum: Mozart.


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## JAS (Mar 6, 2013)

vtpoet said:


> My all time favorite horror movie (seen as a child in reruns):
> 
> https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050414/?ref_=tt_urv
> 
> Scared the living pejayzus out of me. And now, because we're on a Classical Music forum: Mozart.


I have seen it. It is a pretty silly monster, one that can scarcely move (in that hard rubber suit) and mostly seems to kill people by scaring them into falling into things. It was on TCM this year as part of their Halloween lineup.

If we want to mix genres, we can do The Nightmare Before Christmas, or Krampus. (There are also several slasher-type films with Santa Claus, but I am not a big fan of slasher films.) And there is always Jim Carey's take on the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, which is a horror movie of an entirely different kind.


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## Posauner (Nov 8, 2020)

Some I really love, and start listening to long before Halloween. Classic crooners like Nat King Cole, Mel Torme, Frank Sinatra, and Ella Fitzgerald. Any brass ensemble, especially with organ. For jazzy style, Stan Kenton, Tonight Show Band, Harry Connick Jr., or Vince Guaraldi Trio. The Mannheim Steamroller albums are particular favorites, as are John Rutter's.

Most contemporary pop types, with very few exceptions, I find tiresome and dreadful.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Embrace for me. Great atmosphere in a lot of choral pieces.


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## Guest (Nov 16, 2020)

Darlene Love "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

Frank Sinatra "The Christmas Waltz"

Bing Crosby and David Bowie "The Little Drummer Boy (Peace On Earth)

Bruce Springsteen "Santa Claus is Comin' To Town"


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

mikeh375 said:


> If it is Slade or Leroy Anderson, I'll embrace it.
> The best Xmas song ever for me is 'Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas', such a beautiful sentiment and tune...."next year all our troubles will be out of sight"...here's hoping.


I agree both about Have yourself a Merry little Christmas (my favorite version being probably the one of Katie Melua) and Sleigh ride 
I think I would add Fairytale of New York, the tune written by Pogues. 
Or Santa Claus coming to town played by the Ramsey Lewis Trio (or the super weird version made by Joseph Spence).
There are also certain tunes that may not be exactly written for Christmas, that still I tend to associate with that period of the year, like the gorgeous A nightingale sung in Berkeley square (especially the version of Anita O'Day).
In general I'm not a big fan of christmas music, but that doesn't mean that some tune can be good.


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## HenryPenfold (Apr 29, 2018)

I fully embrace it - food, booze, family, friends, presents, three days off - what's not to like?

I don't like the music much though. Am I on the right thread?


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

RVW's Hodie I can live with, but other Christmas music is mostly irritating.


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Love the time of year, and I love Christmas music in general. Classical, pop, pretty much all of it.


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## Simplicissimus (Feb 3, 2020)

For me, it comes down to these points.
1) Being devout, I’m pro Christmas music after the Solemnity of Christ the King, anti before this.
2) No pop music, only classical, traditional carols, crooners, choirs, and early/folk arrangements of traditional songs and hymns.
3) I have happy memories of making good money playing with early music (actually Renaissance) ensembles at shopping malls and private parties during the Christmas season. We had excellent fake books and worked out compelling arrangements of music people associate with Christmas, including the ubiquitous Terpsichore Heft, which to me is not Christmas music, but whatever.


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## senza sordino (Oct 20, 2013)

I like Christmas music a day or two before Christmas and on Christmas Day, other than that I'll avoid it. Today I heard the janitor come through the building with his portable speaker playing Christmas music. It's mid-November. Normally, he doesn't listen to any music while working.

I'll play some holiday favorites a day or two before, and only once. I do not want to hear the same tunes _ad nauseam_.


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

I like Christmas and it's music, including non-classical tunes.


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

senza sordino said:


> I like Christmas music a day or two before Christmas and on Christmas Day, other than that I'll avoid it...
> 
> I'll play some holiday favorites a day or two before, and only once. I do not want to hear the same tunes _ad nauseam_.


I have a similar take


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

norman bates said:


> I agree both about Have yourself a Merry little Christmas (my favorite version being probably the one of Katie Melua) and Sleigh ride
> I think I would add Fairytale of New York, the tune written by Pogues.
> Or Santa Claus coming to town played by the Ramsey Lewis Trio (or the super weird version made by Joseph Spence).
> There are also certain tunes that may not be exactly written for Christmas, that still I tend to associate with that period of the year, like the gorgeous A nightingale sung in Berkeley square (especially the version of Anita O'Day).
> In general I'm not a big fan of christmas music, but that doesn't mean that some tune can be good.


...love that guitar. My wife loves singing some of the lyrics to 'Fairytale of New York' looking directly at me and pointing for some reason....
If I'm forced to play piano around Xmas, I do play 'Nightingale' as there definitely something xmassy about it, throw in a few birdie trills and you can't go wrong. Here's a Sleigh Ride I've been practising, my left hand occasionally keeps falling off though .......


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## Chilham (Jun 18, 2020)

I enjoy Christmas music, but at Christmas, not in mid-November.


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## Comity (Nov 8, 2020)

Ich muss Caligari werden said:


> I sure do enjoy Classical Christmas Music, inc. old carols, Praetorius and the lot. Some of my favorites are pictured below. I cannot abide - to the point of active suicidal ideation - the pop fare that's fed us over store sound systems; esp. despised are: McCartney's _Wonderful Christmas Time _ and Feliciano's _Feliz Navidad_ and several others - thanks bunches for making me think of them  and a Very Messy Christmas to all at TC (courtesy of Black Adder).
> 
> View attachment 145958
> 
> ...


Thank you. I put these on a list.


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

I've discovered by chance this tune that I had heard hundreds of time without knowing what it was. I thought it was something made by Leroy Anderson but it's actually a David Rose piece called Holiday for Christmas.






It's strange how often it happens that there's music that sounds super familiar and I don't know how it's called.


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## Neo Romanza (May 7, 2013)

I embrace it. There's a lot of pap out there, but there's many Christmas pieces that are just flat-out gorgeous. Of course, the Christmas I want to hear is never played on the radio. I mean how many times does one need to hear _Jingle Bell Rock_? It's ridiculous! Thank goodness there were many composers who wrote fine Christmas-oriented pieces and we all can just listen to those instead.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

If I feel the need I can easily spin this in mid summer: 




No problem at all


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## That Guy Mick (May 31, 2020)

20centrfuge said:


> Do you generally embrace or shun Christmas music? Inquiring minds want to know!


I whole-heartedly embrace while contentedly drooling on Xmas cookies and sipping Nog. Indubitably!


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## verandai (Dec 10, 2021)

For me it depends strongly on the music. I have to shut my ears at songs like "last christmas", but others I can enjoy. Songs like "Stille Nacht" are musically not very intersting, but can create a great atmosphere when sung by many people at a Christmas service in the church, for example.

Also, I don't like the abbreviation "Xmas" for Christmas - I can't remember seeing it in the German media when I was a child, it must have either getting popular in the Anglo-Americans in the last 20-30 years, or spilled over to Germany since then


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## PeterKC (Dec 30, 2016)

I love Christmas time and pretty much all of its music. Here is my contribution. This album got its inception from an idea I had to research American composers and their contribution to the carol repertoire. I was happy to be the spark that started this wonderful ensemble's recording history.
The recording includes carols by Ives, Effinger, Freed, Dello Joio, Susa, Belmont, Cowell, Martinson, Sowerby, etc.


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## Nate Miller (Oct 24, 2016)

for musicians, its funny because you play Christmas tunes in December and then you dont play them again for 11 months. 

So every year, somewhere between Halloween and Thanksgiving, every musician you know is quietly going over Christmas music out in the woodshed because, well, we aren't bloody juke boxes and its been 11 months since we even thought about these tunes

This year my thing is I'm singing a duet of "O Holy Night" with a really good soprano on Christmas Eve down at the parish. It'll be fun. I'll be in a suit, Dan will be at the piano, ....its one of the few times I get to feel like a real singer 😄


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Bah! Humbug!

I get zero Christmas association with classical music supposedly composed for it, so I will not be listening specifically to those works at this time of year. I can't stand a lot of pop Christmas classics (some exceptions are Slade, Jona Lewie, Joni Mitchell, Pogues) but I like a handful less common ones.

Christmas itself means little to me. When I was a kid, we always had Cristmas decorations in the house and not much more, but even that has gone out of the window once I moved into a house of my own a long time ago. My wife also has no feelings whatsoever in this respect, so we limit ourselves to a Christmas tree in the shop window of our gallery.
For many years, the only special thing about Christmas was a family reunion over dinner. However, as my close family is getting smaller and smaller, this is also getting to mean less (my wife's family is in Shanghai and the USA). We will visit my brother on Christmas Day and have dinner together, just the three of us - his two children with their families live in other countries. Other continents even.


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

I like classical Christmas music (like Bach's oratorio or medieval/renaissance or Saint Saens) and traditional carols sung by choirs. I don't care for pop christmas music, for pop arrangements of carols or opera stars singing them. The one exception is the "White Christmas" disc by Bing Crosby that has to be played several times in the Holiday season.


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## Nate Miller (Oct 24, 2016)

I think my favorite carol to play is "Santa Clause is Coming To Town". In the verse, there's the line "you better not pout, I'm tellin you why" where you can really dig into the b7th and then at the end of the bridge where the line "be Good for Goodness sake" comes, the walk down to the 5 is fun in the rhythm section

Hey, when you're on the bandstand for 3 sets of Christmas tunes, you have to take your fun where you can find it or its going to be a long night!


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## mikeh375 (Sep 7, 2017)

Nate Miller said:


> I think my favorite carol to play is "Santa Clause is Coming To Town". In the verse, there's the line "you better not pout, I'm tellin you why" where you can really dig into the b7th and then at the end of the bridge where the line "be Good for Goodness sake" comes, the walk down to the 5 is fun in the rhythm section
> 
> Hey, when you're on the bandstand for 3 sets of Christmas tunes, you have to take your fun where you can find it or its going to be a long night!


I like that tune too Nate. I played through this the other night...


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## Nate Miller (Oct 24, 2016)

That's a cool arrangement. I play it differently, but I liked that one quite a bit. That's the thing with that tune, though, it really does lend itself to interpretation. The chords are pretty basic, its easy to substitute changes, the melody has things to play off of, everybody knows the tune, and all that. Its just always fun to play this one. 

There are some carols that are more fun to play than they are to listen to. "Jingle Bell Rock" leaps to mind...say what you want, but it's lots of fun to play


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## haziz (Sep 15, 2017)

I agree with ArtRock. Bah, humbug!

I do find the 1-2 months of continuous Christmas songs and 'carols' on commercial radio and stores in the US particularly irritating. Having personally abandoned any religious celebration of the day a long time ago, it occasionally served as a day to have a meal with some family members, but even that has largely collapsed post COVID.


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## FrankE (Jan 13, 2021)

chu42 said:


> Considering that Handel's Messiah is traditionally Christmas music, I will have to say that I embrace it.


Dublin on 13 April 1742
Covent Garden theatre on 23 March 1743
The *mases of 1741 and 1742 were extended affairs.


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## FrankE (Jan 13, 2021)

Not my thing at all so I avoid both *mas and *mas music
It's too cold to go out this time of year anyway so I'm not in the non-grocery shops. The grocers I go to don't play music. I don't listen to the wireless normally or have a television so it's no difference out of my normal routine to avoid both.
Businesses certainly ram it in your faces.
I feel sorry for retail staff having to listen on loop all day, every work day for several weeks.


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## Malx (Jun 18, 2017)

Sometime next week this will get its annual airing along The Messiah & Hodie.


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## NickBee (1 mo ago)

20centrfuge said:


> Do you generally embrace or shun Christmas music? Inquiring minds want to know!


i sometimes twitch, roll my eyes, and cover my ears... in public... probably a me problem


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

NickBee said:


> i sometimes twitch, roll my eyes, and cover my ears... in public... probably a me problem


You are funny we like that, welcome by the way.


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

I neither embrace nor reject Christmas music as a discrete category. I enjoy some (e.g.Bach's oratorio, favourite carols) and ignore the rest, as I would any other music.


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## Ulalume!Ulalume! (6 mo ago)

I _adore_ the Christmas months. The perfect excuse to listen to infinite Messiah recordings. A young Mariah Carey ever-present on tv screens. Balulalow! A Ceremony of Carols!
If anything, these days, I feel it's my duty to dial up my celebration of this, the most wonderful time of the year, to the utmost degree to cause maximum suffering to the humbuggers. When I worked retail, everyone that worked there, myself included, absolutely loved the endless replays of Slade. It was the customers I hated and that was all year round. If I had my way the doors of Chinese restaurants would be welded shut on Christmas Day and those who take decorations down on Boxing Day would be fined heftily and named and shamed in the papers.


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

20centrfuge said:


> Do you generally embrace or shun Christmas music? Inquiring minds want to know!


Embrace.


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