My Weird Christmas Music

I avoid Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. After that, I really lean into it.

We established earlier this month that I have a special love for a particular Christmas pop workout mix. Other than that, I’ll keep it on in the car via the radio when I’m with the kids. They like some of the cheesy songs that I’m not all that excited by. And a weird part of me likes to make them choose the best option - like you don’t get the world at your fingertips at all times, it’s okay to make your own fun with whatever’s on the radio.

For Christmas morning and holiday time with family I have a Spotify station of traditional Christmas music. Lots of Bing and Frank Sinatra. Some Michael Buble. Also, Dennis isn’t really into my car Christmas roulette, so I save this playlist for car rides with him and the kids. He likes to keep it classic.

However… I also have my special instrumental Christmas list. And that’s where I think I let my weirdness fly. I like to have music on in the house most of the time if we aren’t watching TV. And when we’re home, and the kids are playing, that’s almost always instrumental music. My viola teacher, Mimi, called this wallpaper music. And I couldn’t agree more. It just blends into the background. I used to be a little embarassed about it because it’s not “serious”, and I was, after all, a music major. But now I don’t care. It’s what I like. Take me for who I am. The “serious” music makes me feel distracted - I need to give it more thought than I’d like. This easy, wallpaper music doesn’t require a lot from me. It blends easily into whatever we’re doing.

Some of the instrumental Christmas music has a celtic flair, there are many tracks that are solo piano. It’s not all strictly “Christmas”, but it gives me that feeling. I think when my kids talk about their childhood it will be a thing they can bond over. They’re going to come to an age when they realize all their friends aren’t listening to celtic harp and cello duets for the holidays. And I’m okay with this. If you can’t bond over how weird your childhood was, what can you bond over, really?