my favourite christmas songs

so i promised you something christmasey, and i'm totally running out of time. the problem is, well, i'm just not that good at christmasey. i don't really buy presents or decorate things, and while i like the fact that the holidays give me a chance to eat and drink my face off, i'm not really super into holiday baking or anything (the food that reminds me the most of christmas is potato chips and sour cream, which is what we used to eat while decorating the tree. also bailey's. which my mom would let me drink out of little tiny liqueur glasses at christmas. thanks mom!) i won't see my family until january when i can actually afford to travel, and socializing is pretty hard when don't have any time off over the holidays. and while i totally love the idea that this time of year people are all about peace and goodwill towards man etc etc, retail has basically slowly steamrolled that out of me, turning me into a deflated little grinch. yeah, i'm talking about you, dude who got mad at me for charging you five cents for a bag.

but there are still a few things that make me feel christmasey: getting lindor chocolates in the mail! walking through the woods in the snow with the dog! christmas lobsters! drinking bailey's by the fire! hugging people you don't normally hug! watching elf! and you know what else makes me feel christmasey? music that is only awesome for three weeks out of the year (hear that, stores? THREE WEEKS. NOT THREE MONTHS). it's like christmas comes around and i'm all "yay! i can like this song again!" because, let's be honest, christmas songs in july are just depressing. even the good ones. so here's my christmas play list, you guys. happy holidays or whatever! listen to these songs, and smile at someone! that is my christmas wish this year.

1. all i want for christmas is you - you know that scene in the best christmas movie of all time, love actually? when the love of sam's life steps out on the stage and starts singing that song and then when she sings "you" she points to sam and he's all yay! and then she sings "and you" and then points to someone else and he immediately looks like someone just shot him in the back with a bb gun? and then the curtain opens and hugh grant is making out with that girls backstage? wait, what, you don't? for the love of god, click the link! click it. CLICK IT! yeah. that's christmas right there.
2. auld lang syne - speaking of christmas movies, when i was in high school i made a boy cry by taking him to see it's a wonderful life at the theatre and by the end when everyone was singing that song in george bailey's house he was crying so hard that he basically ran out the emergency exit so no one would see him. and after that every time that song played, i swear he teared up a little bit thinking about how every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings. and now every time i hear that song, i think about making boys cry. and it makes me laugh a little bit. also it makes me think about when harry met sally, which makes me cry. it's a very confusing emotional song for me.
3. christmas in hollis - when i was in, like, grade five or something, we bought one of the first very special christmas tapes and this song was on it. i remember listening to the tape in the car with my dad on christmas eve when we went to get our christmas lobsters and when it came on he was like "what the hell is this?" and i was like, "it's rap, dad, god, it's music" and he was like "well, it might be rap but it's not music" and we have basically been having the same conversation ever since.
4. snoopy and the red baron - i don't think i have to explain to anyone why this song is awesome. there's snoopy, there's the red baron, there's trumpets. enough said. FLYING BEAGLES FOR THE WIN!
5. fairytale of new york - here's a story: my first comic book girl crush was on tulip o'hare from the preacher series. she kicked ass and loved her man and when she thought he was dead and she got all fucked up and then they were finally reunited, there was that scene where they were kissing in the snow in new york and at the top it said "i built my dreams around you" and when i turned the page and saw that it basically punched me in the lung. cause i already loved that song. and i mean, come on, what says christmas better than the pogues?
6. anything from the nana mouskouri christmas album - when we were decorating our tree and eating our potato chips and sour cream, we were listening to nana mouskouri and singing along. even when she was singing in french or german or whatever and we didn't know what the words meant. we were like abba! except less blonde. even now, if i hear any versions of these songs other than hers, it just seems wrong. so no one else can ever sing ave maria, okay?
7. mele kalikimaka - okay, hear me out. i listen to a lot of really shitty christmas songs, over and over again. it's getting to the point where if i hear hey santa again i might actually stab someone with a fork. one of those songs that i hear over and over again, at both my retail jobs (i think they subscribe to the same crappy christmas music service), is mele kalikimaka, which i don't even think i had heard before this year. but then all of a sudden i was humming this kind of weird catchy hawaiian tune, and then i was looking forward to it coming on, and then i was actually youtubing it. never mind that i thought they were singing "mele kalikimaka is the wise way to say merry christmas" -- i figured it out eventually. but seriously, listen to it a few times! it's super catchy and makes me want to surf in a santa hat, or decorate a palm tree with christmas lights.
8. the little drummer boy - i like all versions of this song. i can see why angela wanted it played at her wedding. but obviously the best version is the david bowie version.
9. do they know it's christmas time - i'm a huge sucker for those collaborative-type charity songs that make you want to watch the video in slow motion and say "hey isn't that so and so and there's that guy and holy crap is that really her?" (you should have seen me with that waving flag video. i mean, come on, BIEBER was in it!) obviously this is the best one because they're all 80s stars who i kind of know but kind of don't. but did you ever hear this version? it's full of british people hat i don't really know who they are. but the song is still amazing. i mean, come on. have you ever listened to the actual lyrics? "the only water flowing is the bitter sting of tears and the christmas bells that ring there are THE CLANGING CHIMES OF DOOM"?! yeah. wicked!
10. the twelve days of christmas - again, there is only one version of this you need to care about, and it's this one. you're welcome.