Happy Holidays!
Many/Most/All (?) of you have received a tape-segued-to-CD mix from me over the years. I consider it a SuperPower and love finding, compiling, and sharing songs of joy, inspiration, relevance, all of the above. I've been making *holiday* mixes since the late-90s, and kept up the tradition through 2016. Then Life with a Capital L seemed to get in the way and I allowed myself to get off track (a hard drive crash, a grandbaby, retirement, now the pandemic, insert excuse-of-choice here). This is the time of year I drag them all out and listen, chronologically, to the message my Ghost of Christmas Past was trying to impart along the way.
I can't even remember why 2012 was so sh*tty, but I re-discovered this playlist I made just for myself that year, never sharing it with anyone! Being that 2020's pandemic has turned all holidays and traditions upside-down, it seemed a good time to finally get this out into the world. I invite you to feel all the feelings, look in the rearview mirror, and then... Let. It. Go. But, two songs with mournful banjos? Be still, my melancholy heart!
On the flip side, I realize we all have *so* much to be grateful for: loving family (immediate and extended), dear friends (locally and across state lines), health, happiness, peace... and don't even get me started on what happens January 20, 2021... :-)
Wishing everyone a satisfying wrap-up to 2020, and a New Year filled with continued coping mechanisms, growth opportunities, and the ability to differentiate between the things we can control and the things we can't. Oh, and love, Love, and MORE LOVE... <3
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/22VpETOxXclALhwENUkmVZ?si=4aQKyzGBS-i_tZJ9T5CRuw
[I joined Spotify years ago, but this is my first time making a Playlist via their service. I signed up for a three-month Premium trial (meaning ad-free) but not sure if that will translate for your listening pleasure through my link. If there are commercials, I apologize. Hoping you have this service already; if not, the tracklist is below so you can find the songs on YouTube or elsewhere.]
[I joined Spotify years ago, but this is my first time making a Playlist via their service. I signed up for a three-month Premium trial (meaning ad-free) but not sure if that will translate for your listening pleasure through my link. If there are commercials, I apologize. Hoping you have this service already; if not, the tracklist is below so you can find the songs on YouTube or elsewhere.]
1. Just Because It’s Christmas ~ Skiffle and the Piffles
2. Christmas Eve Can Kill You ~ Everly Brothers
3. Christmas in a Chinese Restaurant ~ Diamond Rugs
4. Christmas Day (Time to Let You Go) ~ Russell
5. It Doesn’t Feel Like Christmas ~ Sam Phillips
6. Merry Christmas Anyway ~ Scotland Barr and the Slow Drags
7. Christmas Morning ~ Lyle Lovett
8. Like the Snow ~ Kristin Andreassen
9. Listening to Otis Redding at Home During Christmas ~ Okkervil River
10. Angel Hair ~ Sam Baker
11. A Holiday Song ~ Lisa Loeb
12. So Much Wine ~ The Handsome Family
13. Still Drunk, Still Crazy, Still Silent Night ~ Scott H. Biram
14. Merry Xmas (Thanks for the Roses) ~ Winterbloom (featuring Antje Duvekot)
15. Christmas Eve, Driving Home ~ Frontier Ruckus
16. Carry Me Home ~ Hey Rosetta!
17. All I Ever Get for Christmas is Blue ~ Over the Rhine
18. Let Me Sleep (Christmas Time) ~ Pearl Jam
19. That Was the Worst Christmas Ever! ~ Sufjan Stevens
2. Christmas Eve Can Kill You ~ Everly Brothers
3. Christmas in a Chinese Restaurant ~ Diamond Rugs
4. Christmas Day (Time to Let You Go) ~ Russell
5. It Doesn’t Feel Like Christmas ~ Sam Phillips
6. Merry Christmas Anyway ~ Scotland Barr and the Slow Drags
7. Christmas Morning ~ Lyle Lovett
8. Like the Snow ~ Kristin Andreassen
9. Listening to Otis Redding at Home During Christmas ~ Okkervil River
10. Angel Hair ~ Sam Baker
11. A Holiday Song ~ Lisa Loeb
12. So Much Wine ~ The Handsome Family
13. Still Drunk, Still Crazy, Still Silent Night ~ Scott H. Biram
14. Merry Xmas (Thanks for the Roses) ~ Winterbloom (featuring Antje Duvekot)
15. Christmas Eve, Driving Home ~ Frontier Ruckus
16. Carry Me Home ~ Hey Rosetta!
17. All I Ever Get for Christmas is Blue ~ Over the Rhine
18. Let Me Sleep (Christmas Time) ~ Pearl Jam
19. That Was the Worst Christmas Ever! ~ Sufjan Stevens
NR: Anxious People by Fredrik Backman (sooooo good!)
SONG: That Was the Worst Christmas Ever! by Sufjan Stevens (worth the 5-minute story/introduction!).
BOOK: Grumpy Cat's First Worst Christmas by Golden Books, Steph Laberis (Illustrator)
POEM: Down in the Valley by Joshua Mehigan
QUOTE: "My worst Christmas ever was in 1987 when Santa brought me and my sister a dose of chicken-pox. And my worst present ever was a Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner! I don't like to sound ungrateful, but I do find vacuuming difficult to get excited about." ~ Sophia Di Martino
POEM: Down in the Valley by Joshua Mehigan
It was her first time coming home from college.
She headed downtown for a drink or two.
Her girlfriend went home early. That was Christmas.
Now, under sapling pine trees in the clearing,
snowdrops are coming back to their old places.
They had been gone a lifetime. Now they stand,
poised like a choir on the verge of singing:
Nature is just. There’s nothing left to fear.
The worst thing that can happen happened here.
QUOTE: "My worst Christmas ever was in 1987 when Santa brought me and my sister a dose of chicken-pox. And my worst present ever was a Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner! I don't like to sound ungrateful, but I do find vacuuming difficult to get excited about." ~ Sophia Di Martino
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