Christmas Playlist from a Confirmed Atheist by Suz deMello

I love Christmas. I may love Christmas more than many Christians, for whom the season represents the mega-stress of choosing the perfect gifts and cooking the perfect meal in the perfectly decorated home. As an atheist from a Jewish family, I'm free to admire store displays without worrying about if such-and-such a present for so-and-so is too expensive or too chintzy. I love to drive around and enjoy other people's light shows without having to participate out of a sense of duty. I'm apt to whistle or hum my favorite Christmas tunes to the dismay of my British mother, who informed me a few minutes ago while we were waiting for a table for lunch, that whistling is "not lady-like." (Oddly, she seems to forget that boat left the dock a long while back).

Jazz Christmas carols are my fave, and play almost continually between Thanksgiving and New Year's, the proper time for celebrating the Yule. I do not like to walk into Target in October to see aisles so festooned with Christmas decor that it looks like Santa vomited. All holidays deserve their due, Halloween and Thanksgiving in their season.

While I often stream Pandora in my computer or cellphone, I also have a Christmas playlist, and here it is:

--Dido: Christmas Day

--Diana Krall: Christmas Time is Here

--John Denver: Coventry Carol

--Barenaked Ladies: Green Christmas. My favorite snarky Christmas song--this is the song I was whistling. When Mom objected to that, I started to hum and sing. Tee-hee-hee. Annoying one's parents never grows old :)

--Luther Vandross: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

--London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir: Hallelujah Chorus, from Handel's Messiah (In my not very humble opinion, one of the greatest artworks ever created).
--John Lennon and Yoko Ono: Happy Christmas (War is Over)

--A couple of selections by different artists from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Ballet

--Dave Brubeck: What Child is This?

--Tony Elman: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

--Bruce Springsteen: Santa Claus is Coming to Town

--Joni Mitchell: River

--Kenny G: Medley with We Three Kings and Carol of the Bells

--Judy Collins: The Holly and the Ivy

So enjoy the music while reading our latest offering, Naughty Chances--Take a Chance on Romance

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