Christmas Spirit

Additional Worthwhile Christmas Music

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

pentatonix-christmas-album

I may or may not have mentioned that I have one of the most awesome collections of Christmas music ever. If not, then I do have one of the most awesome collections of Christmas music ever.

Although I prefer the older Christmas music, I still occasionally pick up new recordings by newer artists from time to time.

Here’s a list of some of my most recent acquisitions that I think are pretty darn good:

1) Sting – If On a Winter’s Night

2) Barbra Streisand- A Christmas Album

3) Johnny Mathis- Merry Christmas

4) Pentatonix- That’s Christmas to Me

5) Bing Crosby- The Voice of Christmas: The Complete Decca Christmas Recordings

6) Richard Marx- Christmas Spirit

7) Mahalia Jackson – Mahalia Sings Songs of Christmas

8) Shawn Colvin- Holiday Songs and Lullabies

9) Mary Chapin Carpenter- Come Darkness Come Light: Twelve Songs of Christmas

10) Barry Manilow- In the Swing of Christmas

That’s not a definitive list of all my new favorites. First of all, I don’t have that kind of time to list them all. Second, I don’t want to come across as the world’s biggest nerd. But that is a sampling of what I’m listening to these days.

To me, it’s not really the Christmas season without Christmas music. So I hope this will help you add to your enjoyment of the season of celebrating Christ’s birth.

Christmas Eve Eve (Or Is It Christmas Adam?)

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

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Today is December 23. As the old joke goes, the day before Christmas Eve is Christmas Adam, for obvious reasons. And no, I didn’t say it was a good joke or even a funny joke.

It’s hard to get in the Christmas spirit when you can’t even take a moment to breathe. For me, I’ve been working crazy hours and getting some very last minute shopping in. All those plans for having all my presents bought early and devoting more time to celebrating Advent went the way of the BetaMax and the HD-DVD. They didn’t last long.

But as Bill Murray’s character in the movie Scrooged asks, “It’s not too late, is it?”

No, I don’t think so.

It’s never too late to turn your eyes to the manger and see the child laying there. It’s not too late to come and kneel before the infant King with the Shepherds. It’s not too late to make room for Immanuel, God With Us.

Whether it’s December 23 or after a lifetime of missed Christmases, it’s never too late. Even if you’re older than 92, you can still become like a child and receive this gift, despite what The Christmas Song says.

That’s why I love Christmas. God the Infinite became an embryo to show that no place is too small for Him to come into and make a difference. As my pastor always says, all He needs is a place to start, the tiniest opening in the heart, the most hesitant of acceptances to begin the miracle of change.

If God can change a heart like mine, He can change yours. That is what Christmas is really all about, Charlie Brown.