What's Christmas without a tin of mixed nuts? As a kid I always picked out the peanuts. Maybe you learned to like the almonds. But in the end you always feel like your being cheated as your left with a tin full of the yucky nuts that nobody wants to eat. As I grew older some of those duds became favorites like cashews and pistachios. I even learned to love chesnuts (best enjoyed hot off a cart on a busy city street).
I admit I have never and can never imagine enjoying walnuts. But I now view a tin of mixed nuts as a fun treat.... minus those nasty walnuts of course. Because, with a tin of mixed nuts, we all have our favorites. And that's a little similar to how I feel about Christmas music. There are songs I have always loved, songs I learned to love and songs I still don't care for. And that's why this year's Christmas playlist is titled Mixed Nuts. Merry Christmas!
You can listen to this playlist on Spotify – or just click play on the embedded playlist below! Kenneth has included some comments on our selections below.
“Miraculum (Instrumental)”, Lincoln Brewster:
Wendy loves the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, but the two songs (which I also enjoy) have officially crossed over into the “everyone’s heard them, seen them live, and has them on a portable device” category. So, this is a cool track in the spirit of the orchestra. From a whole cd perspective, I really liked this CD, which I can’t say about the Trans-Siberian stuff.
“I’m Getting Nuttin For Christmas”, Relient K:
(Obligatory nut reference, pt. 1)
Yes, we had to include versions of any nut-related songs we can find. So, sorry to everyone who may be tiring of Relient K, one of our very favorite Christmas CDs. It is fun, though!
“Christmas Without You”, OneRepublic:
”Christmas Song”, American Bang:
This is a nice track about embracing the Christmas spirit, reconciling a lost relationship and then resolving to stay together… “no one should spend Christmas alone.” (It couldn’t keep the band together… they broke up in 2010.)
“Christmas Card”, Steven Curtis Chapman:
Consider this playlist our Christmas Card. And each year, one of the themes for me is this: “I’m sending you this Christmas card to let you know somebody loves you… and let you know you’re not alone.” At Christmas, we celebrate the fact that “wherever we are, He is with Us”.
“For the Beauty of the Earth (Nativity Version)”, BarlowGirl:
Maybe this is usually classified in the Church as a “Thanksgiving song”, but it totally qualifies and Wendy and I both love it.
“When Love Was Born”, Mark Schulz
“The Christmas Song”, Colbie Caillat:
(Obligatory nut reference, pt. 2)
“Sunny Christmas”, Renee & Jeremy:
Awsumb’s best friend’s dad asked me a couple weeks ago, “So, are you going to Disneyland this Christmas?” I coughed a little and said “No,” while thinking “but we ARE going to Disney World!” (We hadn’t told Awsumb yet…) Anyway, we seem to spend as much time in sunny and 70 weather as snowy weather in December. So… “Have a Sunny Christmas!”
“Because It’s Christmas”, Sidewalk Prophets
“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, Lincoln Brewster
“All I Want for Christmas is You”, Bowling for Soup:
Semi-embarassing disclaimer: As a long-time Mariah Carey fan, I think “All I Want…” is a modern Christmas classic, but it’s definitely something I would include here. So now that the alternative versions of the song are starting to appear, I was surprised to hear Wendy say, “We should put this song on the cd…” I said, “You know that’s the Mariah Carey song, right?”
“Believe in Me”, fun.
“Always In The Season”, Pomplamoose:
We have a couple tracks from an indie-band, who has taken the YouTube train to modest success. They typically record their music as live videos where “what you see is what you hear”. Their music sounds timeless, but also eclectic.
“Little Drummer Boy”, MercyMe
Wendy's favorite Christmas tribute since childhood.
“Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”, Pomplamoose:
(Obligatory nut reference, pt. 3… you know, it’s from the Nutcracker…) Speaking of eclectic, their CD is called “Christmas in Space.” You might get a sense of that from this track. (Maybe they should use this for a Space Mountain holiday overlay…)
“We Wish You A Merry Christmas”, Renee & Jeremy
BONUS NUTS
These songs didn't make the playlist, but based on how many times Awsumb begged me to repeat them while working on picking tracks, these are probably his favorites:
These first two "bonus nuts" are Awsumb's picks. They didn't make the playlist, but based on how many times Awsumb begged me to repeat them while working on picking tracks, these are probably his favorites...
“All I Need Is Love”, CeeLo Green.
Awsumb loves this track, which mashes up samples of the early 2000’s Mambo No. 5 and the Muppet’s “Mahna Mahna” for a danceable Christmas song… with the Muppets! Awsumb has been a lot less interested in kid’s music lately, but he wants to hit repeat on this song every time it comes on.
"Something in the Air", Grayson Sanders
I haven't seen this on TV yet, but I guess this is the Coca Cola Christmas jingle? So if you see polar bears dancing, this is probably the song.
These next two? They are just nuts - or the artists are...
"The Greatest Gift of All (the Hobbit)", The DoubleClicks
The DoubleClicks are the YouTube poster band for geeks. If someone around you starts laughing during this song, they have just outed themselves as being somewhere on the plus side of the nerd spectrum.
"Christmas Unicorn", Sufjan Stevens
This song is just... nuts!
