What is your favorite Christmas song or album?
I love Christmas and all the songs that celebrate it but the answer for me, hands down, is the entire Christmas Portrait album by The Carpenters. Even the title is perfect; it’s a glorious audio portrait of everything that fills us with the love and magic of Christmas.
The arrangements, lush orchestration, and Disneyesque choir of this album wrap me in a beautiful soft snowfall and a warm, crackling fire. More than five minutes into an overture and medley of traditional religious carols we are primed for Karen Carpenter’s arrival with her angelic voice singing “Christmas Waltz”.
That album was released in October 1978. My wife and I were in our first new house; our son was approaching only his second Christmas, the first one I figured he could appreciate — bright lights, shiny ornaments, presents, and beautiful music.
And that’s the thing about music, isn’t it? It reflects the powerful emotions of our lives past and gives us a path of hope for the future.
For you, Christmas touchstones may be ignited by Mariah Carey, Michael Buble, or Bing Crosby. Play it loud and often.
In case you’re curious, Elvis had the best-selling Christmas album of all time.
It’s wonderful, but it’s not The Carpenters.
What’s your favorite?
Christmas wouldn’t seem complete without Karens sweet voice.