Holiday music 2008

This year I've been listening to all my favorites, but I've especially been needing to hear the "heavier" holiday music.  I listened to "The Nutcracker" while out running all over the metroplex yesterday.  It really did lift my spirit and give me energy yesterday.  Something about Tchaikovsky's music really gets to me emotionally these last couple of years.  I haven't seen the ballet in quite a few years now, but I hope to take both my niece and my Goddaughter within the next few years.  I have two favorite parts that are almost total opposites.  One is "Coffee", probably the quietest part of the work, and very exotic-sounding.  The other is the "Pas de Deux" between Clara and the Prince, which is sweepingly romantic and grand, and always gives me goosebumps.

The other CD I really enjoyed today was Handel's "Messiah".  If you need to get over the stress of shopping, making lists, and the pull that we all sometimes feel away from the real reason we celebrate Christmas, then this deserves a good listen.  It definitely helped me feel some deeper feelings and lifted my heart above the retail overload I'd been feeling.    

And finally, I bought a CD for Gabriel to have in his room.  It's a compilation with one disc that has original classics and another with modern artists doing remakes of the classics.  We haven't listened much to the second disc.  But there are some real gems on the original one.  Frank Sinatra singing "Jingle Bells" is Gabriel's favorite, mainly because of all the jingle bells at the beginning of the song.  There's also Burl Ives singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and Elvis doing "Here Comes Santa Claus".  But one I didn't even see when I bought it is Judy Garland singing the original version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" from the movie Meet Me In St. Louie.  It's so wonderful and poignant and nostalgic.  In listening to this one song you remember what it's like to be a child at Christmas again, anticipate seeing friends and family for the current holiday, and feel very sad about the people you've lost over the years.  That voice of hers packs quite a punch.