Deck the Halls

First, I'm just going to say that I did follow directions, Cardona. I want to point out that I did try to switch things up a little bit, so I made a vlog. When I watched it back, though, I looked uncomfortable and I felt awkward talking to myself. I felt like I was going crazy. So I ditched that idea and I'm just gonna write about Christmas now. *We wish you a Merry Christmas.*

I'm sitting in our kitchen right now as my parents are making Polish Potato and Sausage Soup for lunch, jamming out to Christmas tunes. I think we have 20 Christmas themed CDs. And I'm pretty sure we listen to all of them. In our defense, there are a bunch of different genres: brass instrumental, rat pack, a cappella, choral, and then the normal kind of music. Is that too much? *City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style.*

I love listening to Christmas music. I don't think Christmas would be complete without it, although I do think it's a little overkill that radio stations start playing Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving. Too soon, man. And then, even worse, there are some bad recordings out there, but I'm glad that my family respects good Christmas music. *And so it's been said many times, many ways. Merry Christmas to you.*

In December, my mom always has at least 3 Christmas CDs in her car. Even at home, my dad sets aside his iPod, which is usually constantly playing, for Christmas CDs to create holiday cheer. We sing along with these songs a lot. My dad and I like to harmonize. My mom and I sing along with songs that don't have any words, so we "da da da" along. *Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful. And since we've no place to go, let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!*

Along with the large amount of Christmas CDs, we have 4 or 5 Christmas piano books. My mom likes finding cool versions of Christmas songs, so two of our books are jazzy Christmas songs. Some of them actually sound interesting, like We Three Kings of Orient Are. We all have our own favorite songs: my mom likes Do You Hear What I Hear?, my dad likes The Christmas Song, and I like Deck the Halls. *Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa la la la la la la la la.*

Speaking of decking the halls, when I went to see the Dallas Brass concert, I bought their Christmas CD because my mom also really likes brass Christmas music. They have a really good version of Deck the Halls where they just go crazy and are doing massive runs and hitting really high notes. It's awesome, but if I had to pick an overall favorite CD, it would be the Blenders. They are an a cappella group based in the Twin Cities and their songs/arrangements are freaking awesome. I couldn't find their best originial song ('Twas the Night) on YouTube, but I found their freaking awesome version of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. Please listen and enjoy.

They're kind of a older boy band who try to be hip, but they're still really cute.

Now I'm going to go make some cookies: Russian Teacakes. And I'm going to eat them. And I'm going to get all covered in powdered sugar.

Merry Christmas, everybody.