...specifically Christmas music, which is what The A List covered this week...

What are your favorite Christmas songs? Which ones *make* the holiday season for you?

I am not a traditionalist by any means. Choirs singing 'Silent Night' or 'O Little Town of Bethlehem' doesn't quite float my boat for Christmas. At least not as a first choice.

I turn towards Trans-Siberian Orchestra (a.k.a. TSO) as a first choice for Christmas music. Always. In fact, this year it seems like it's the only thing that I'm listening to. I put on my usual assortment in the CD changer when I was putting up the tree - Chicago, Russ Freeman, Fourplay, TSO, and Kenny Loggins, but for some reason I've not grabbed any of those to listen to at work or in the car.

Not even the Neil Zaza holiday discs made it in this year. It's funny. It's almost like Christmas hasn't quite hit me this year. Just about all the shopping is done. I still have to ship my parents gift to them. There's wrapping still to do, but the baking is done. The lights have been up on the house for a couple of weeks now too (that isn't normal). But the spirit hasn't quite hit me yet.

Don't get me wrong - I love traditional carols as well, but since I grew up in a Catholic school, and was constantly barraged with a traditional choir arrangement of various carols (and learned to sing them that way myself when I joined that very same choir in high school), sometimes hearing something a little different is a good thing. And hearing something like Chicago putting thier own spin on 'What Child is This' is a good thing. Or hearing instrumental versions of carols from Fourplay. Or even listening to TSO using electric guitars to get the point across in thier versions of carols.

As for what makes the holiday for me? Seeing TSO perform "Christmas Eve and Other Stories" live. Which I didn't do this year, and that might be part of the problem.

It's just something a little different. Just like this season seems to be to me. A little something different, and I can't put my finger on why. Not yet. I might never, but I'm still moving on, and still looking forward to Christmas....

...just me and my TSO.