So much of the Christmas season, for me, is all about the music. I have no problems with you if you want to start your Christmas celebrations a little early. After Halloween seems excessive. After Thanksgiving is fair game. Then let’s bring on the real Christmas songs and the fake ones, too. I don’t discriminate. From Dec 16-31, it’s all Christmas music playing on Mental Jukebox.

This is the opposite of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You”. And that’s exactly why I like it so much. It’s stripped down, not overproduced. It’s plain-and-simple, not over-the-top. The entire Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas album is a must-listen for the holidays. And “Hark, The Herald Angels Sing” is my favorite track because of the children’s chorus and church organ. This sounds like a choir practice happening inside a small neighborhood church, not a glitzy studio. It's as real as real gets. Some of the kids are out of tune. Some of them aren’t even singing in unison. It’s messy. It’s quaint. It’s beautiful. And it reminds me so much of the original Christmas story.

“JOYFUL, ALL YE NATIONS, RISE. JOIN THE TRIUMPH OF THE SKIES. WITH TH’ANGELIC HOST PROCLAIM CHRIST IS BORN IN BETHLEHEM!”