Into the spirit

It's not too early to listen to Christmas music, is it? Lord knows that the radio stations here are already doing the 24/7 Christmas holiday (excuse me!) music thing. The first year they did it, it was incredibly novel. But ever since, it just reminds you that there really aren't that many Christmas songs, just hundreds and hundreds of renditions of the same songs. Which isn't altogether bad, it just gets redundant.

Not surprisingly, I prefer my Christmas music on my own terms. I have roughly 150 songs that have a holiday vibe to them in my iTunes at the moment, and there's a few that I really should import from CDs but I'm just too damn lazy to get up and walk across the room and get them.

Anna has danced around my office this morning to the Russian dance from the Nutcracker. Several times even, just this morning. But she has retired to the upstairs for now and I've decided to put on Barbra's classic 1967 Christmas album simply titled "A Christmas Album." It drives Caryle nuts that Barbra Streisand records Christmas music because, well, she's Jewish. My response to that is how, when you have a voice like that, could you NOT? But I do hear her protest, and well, it is a valid point.

Anyway, Babs' 1967 Christmas album (as opposed to 2001's Christmas Memories which I really don't get into as much) is a fabulous experience. It's pretty much a totally somber affair, the opening track "Jingle Bells?" notwithstanding. And that opening track was the one that hooked me into the whole thing. She covers a lot of the standards - "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," "White Christmas," and "O Little Town Of Bethlehem." She also sings "My Favorite Things" which I cannot figure out, for the life of me, how that became a Christmas standard. I mean, there was nothing Christmas about it in The Sound of Music! I mentioned this at work the other day and someone said that perhaps it makes people think of their Christmas lists. I could get behind that, but it's still the most inexplicable Christmas song. And Jeff says that she looks like the pregnant Jesus of Nazareth on the cover!

I remember when I was in college and I was listening to this CD and I fell asleep and had a dream about "I Wonder As I Wander" and I know that I wrote about it when it happened, but I just searched my journals from that time period and can't find it. I do remember that someone from our church was appalled that Barbra's version was not the appropriate version, but beyond that, I got nothing.

So anyway, today is a daddy-daughter day. Anna and I are going to go visit the Iowa State campus and go have pizza. Pictures galore later today.