Monday, December 8, 2014

On Christmas Music

So far this year, nothing makes me feel more grinchy than Christmas music on the radio. I love Christmas, and I love Christmas music. Well, most of it. There are a few songs that I just don't like, and most of them would fall into the category of "Christmas classics." The worst of these offenders is that old-timey hit from Burl Ives, Holly Jolly Christmas. Every time the fuzzy-vinyl recording starts up (which is every time I have the radio on in the car, even if I'm just driving ten minutes to the grocery store) I have to turn it off. Even my four-year-old daughter knows I hate that song. She asked me about it the other day.

This is not a rant against the secularization or commercialization of Christmas. It's nothing as anti-cultural or sanctimonious as that. This is all about my personal preference. One of the Christian radio stations I listen to starts playing non-stop Christmas music at the beginning of November, and the other one I listen to started it last weekend. And when it comes to Christian contemporary music, these stations have a good thirty years of songs to pick from. There are always several new Christmas albums from Christian artists that come out every year. So why is it that just because it's Christmas, they feel the need to suddenly start playing these seasonal classics that have nothing to do with Christ? If I wanted to listen to mainstream Christmas music, including those awful vinyl recordings of Silver Bells and White Christmas as well as stupid newer songs like All I Want For Christmas Is You, I could listen to a mainstream station. They're playing all those songs, too.

Holly Jolly Christmas isn't the only song I turn off every time I hear it. There are "Christian" Christmas songs that I hate, too. Christmas Shoes and Happy Birthday Jesus come to mind. Like I said, it's not really about the content of the lyrics, it's just about what I like and what I don't. I know, I should just make a Christmas mix CD for my car (yeah, it doesn't have an MP3 player option) and make my own playlist to listen to at home and just stop whining. But hey, I have a blog, and that's what blogs are for, right? And sometimes I get bored with my own music selections, too.

Who's with me? Who else wants to turn on a Christian radio station and just hear Christmas music, no matter what time of year it is? Any other musical grinches out there?