Music Monday #5: Christmas Tunes

In the spirit of using this meme/category/whatever to copy things other people are doing, today I'm ripping off Tim Challies (hey, if I'm going to copy someone, may as well be him, right?)

And it's a topic that's near and dear to my heart -- Christmas music. I like holiday music in general (just wait 'til St. Patrick's Day ...), and there aren't too many holidays with the huge variety of music that Christmas has. And I've got a huge variety. 111 songs all together, just over 5 hours and 15 minutes worth. We'll hear it all twice on the way to my Mom's for Christmas.

It's hard to decide on favorites. I've recently downloaded Los Straitjackets' album Tis the Season For Los Straitjackets.

Surf music for Christmas may not appeal to everyone, but imagine Dick Dale playing "Little Drummer Boy." Awesome band. Jars of Clay's new Christmas album is quite good, too, but I'm not thrilled with their cover of Paul McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime."

For the kids, there is (of course) the Veggie Tales

. My favorite on this CD is probably "The 12 Polish Foods of Christmas." And of course there are The Chipmunks, doing their own famous song as well as "Jingle Bells."

And before you ask, I deleted the barking dogs doing Jingle Bells. But I do have Bob and Doug McKenzie's "12 Days of Christmas,"

Bob Rivers' "Porky Pig's Blue Christmas"

and "It's The Most Fattening Time Of The Year,"

and Da Yoopers' "Rusty Chevrolet."

But my favorite is probably Centricity Records' Bethlehem Skyline

. "How Many Kings" is destined to become a Christmas classic, but the whole album is excellent. And I'd say that even if the label wasn't so podcaster-friendly.

Go get some Christmas music. Get some unique Christmas music. And enjoy!