Well, I Thought They Sounded Good (And More Tales Of Holiday Music)

Among friends and family, my appreciation of Christmas music is very well known. So much so in fact that I make a homemade ‘family’ Christmas CD every year choc full of Christmas tunes that we give to our friends, family, and coworkers to listen to during the holiday season. By ‘family,’ I of course mean that I take total freakish control of the project and don’t let my wife participate. Until this year, which people have told me is the best one yet. Go figure.

In a small way, I kind of have an unspoken rivalry each year with my best friend who does a Christmas CD also. The only difference is that his usually turns out better than mine does. He devoted this year’s CD to the real reason for the season: songs about Christ’s birth. I have to say that I felt more than inadequate as I gave him my copy while saying, ‘well, my theme this year is Santa Claus.’ Somehow, it just didn’t seem to match up. Maybe next year…

I bring all of this up because I am in the process of passing out this year’s CD to our friends, family and co-workers. Imagine my surprise when I arrived at work this morning to a coworker’s copy of his annual Christmas CD on my desk. I like working with this coworker very much and was eagerly anticipating listening to his collection of holiday merriment, especially when he told me that it was made up of the most grating, annoying and awful Christmas tunes ever made. Woo Hoo I thought. Listening to this would be a lot of fun. Then I put it in my office computer to give it a listen. (Insert the sound of a needle scratching across a record here). SCREEEEEEEEEETCH!!!!

Now imagine how I felt as I toe tapped to 17 out of the 21 tracks as they are some of my favorite Christmas tunes, not some of my most hated. This CD will quickly become a holiday listening requirement for me. Then it got even worse. As I kept listening, I realized there were about 4 tracks on his CD that I had actually put on my CD or that were from the same artist and CD I chose to highlight. How can he and I get along so well when what annoys him pleases me? I guess one man’s treasure really is another man’s junk. Seriously, the last nine consecutive songs are from Christmas albums that I cherish and make sure to play every holiday season. Since sound travels so well in our little cubicle world, I guess I had better turn down my computer’s volume when I play my Christmas music for the rest of the season out of respect for my friend. Now I wonder if he was trying to tell me something with his Christmas collection.

Don’t get me wrong, Clay Aiken, Celine Dion and Neal Diamond singing Christmas tunes grate my nerves as much as anyone, but Frank Sinatra, the Beach Boys, Nat King Cole (even if he’s singing in German) and Elvis are holiday necessities for me. After we laughed about how his Christmas ridicule and my serious attempt at Christmas music were virtually identical, I felt it necessary to offer to take my CD back from my male coworker since it is filled with songs he will obviously view with contempt. He politely declined and I politely turned my volume down. Now if he’d included Robert Goulet on his collection, we might have had some middle ground. Ok, I’m lying, I have Robert Goulet’s Christmas album and enjoy it very much. Sorry male coworker, but thanks for a great Christmas album that will make you suicidal every time I play it…