For those of you who don’t want to go through your parents’ archives of music, simply use the internet. (For example, Pandora has a variety of Christmas stations, and the “Swingin’ Christmas” station offers many of the tunes that will be mentioned throughout this article.) An album I would highly recommend is Bing Crosby’s Christmas Classics, available on either iTunes or at Walmart. It includes well-known songs such as “White Christmas” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” along with lesser-known tracks such as “Pat-a-Pan/While the Shepherds Watched Their Flocks” and “Christmas Dinner Country Style.” My favorite song from the album is “Winter Wonderland.” Crosby’s voice has a depth and purity to it that is hard to find now, and it is accompanied by a 60’s style chorus and band sound.

Ol’ Blue Eyes (Frank Sinatra) has an album (quite appropriately) titled Christmas that also gives listeners a good mix of old favorites and not-so-well-known tunes. This CD features “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” and “Christmas Waltz.” My favorite track is “Christmas Memories” because it strings together a bunch of little moments of the Christmas season, and takes me back to Christmases when I was a little kid. (And who doesn’t love feeling like a little kid around the holidays?)    

        

If you’re not sold on these artists, try Michael Buble’s Christmas. He covers traditional songs and most tracks have a big-band, Broadway sound that is generally attributed to songs from the past.

Overall, I’d definitely recommend giving the older sound a try. It’s a nice change of pace from what the radio typically plays, and I believe that, due to it’s purer sound, it’s simply joyful. Whatever you choose to listen to, have a holly jolly Christmas!