What's your favorite Christmas song?

[hamerhead]

When my kids were little I'd sing the first couple lines in full crooner voice as a gag. Apparently it's a core memory for them.  Scarred 'em for life!

And my wife's Dad was a dead ringer for Bing.

[kizanski]

The ONLY Christmas song that I like.

The rest should be deleted form existence, starting with that John Lennon song which makes me want to throw things.

 

[Willie G. Moseley]

RE Bing Crosby and "White Christmas", I settled in and watched the movie again for the umpteenth time this week (one station was playing it over and over, a la SyFy and the original Twilight Zone series). I have a policy of viewing it at least twice each Christmas season if possible, and the continuous broadcast of White Christmas  is a handy option.

What makes this personal ritual worthwhile is that the movie exemplifies how, in those times, many mainstream movie stars had a more-meticulous occupation---they had to sing and dance and act. 

The choreography is dazzling, and it didn't hurt that Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen were both babes. That movie will always hold up, for me at least.

[LucSulla]

A few years of retail has made me hate all Christmas music. The final year I worked for Spec's the store manager discovered the Margaritaville XM/Sirius station. 

You guys have no idea how many fucking island-themed Christmas songs exist. [Types in 1,000 yard stare]

[Feynman]

2 hours ago, LucSulla said:

A few years of retail has made me hate all Christmas music. The final year I worked for Spec's the store manager discovered the Margaritaville XM/Sirius station. 

You guys have no idea how many fucking island-themed Christmas songs exist. [Types in 1,000 yard stare]

Thank you for your service.

[Steve Haynie]

21 hours ago, LucSulla said:

You guys have no idea how many fucking island-themed Christmas songs exist. 

Sure we do.  

Exotic Tiki Island will have holiday themed weekend shows, and Hawaiian music with a Christmas theme is just so wonderful that we should share that experience with everyone we know.  

[crunchee]

This song has kinda grown on me over The Holidays, and especially since now everything's about to freeze over weatherwise.  Plus, I wanted to post a video that didn't have Chevy Chase in it:

 

[velorush]

A favorite:

As far as the Christmas song, Nat and Ella are great, but the Velvet Fog wins (no extra credit for writing the thing required):

 

[LucSulla]

On 12/28/2025 at 9:06 AM, Steve Haynie said:

Sure we do.  

Exotic Tiki Island will have holiday themed weekend shows, and Hawaiian music with a Christmas theme is just so wonderful that we should share that experience with everyone we know.  

 

 

 

Edited December 30, 2025 by LucSulla

[DaveH]

On 12/26/2025 at 12:07 PM, kizanski said:

The ONLY Christmas song that I like.

The rest should be deleted form existence, starting with that John Lennon song which makes me want to throw things.

 

My favorite is the one that never gets played.

[LucSulla]

I have an affinity for The Drifters' version of "White Christmas" as well. There was an internet cartoon that went with it that just cracks my Dad up. To this day, he makes me watch when I visit during the holidays, as if he hasn't done it every year since 2005 or 2006. "Look at that one reindeer really cutting it up!"

It's always nice to see that a man in his 70s can be in his teens for a second, which is exactly what this is. He was more into the 50s R&B like the Drifters, the Impressions, Ray Charles, and Irma Thomas than he was the first wave of Rock 'n' Roll. I never really heard him talk much about Elvis or any of the Sun Records crowd, but he loved early R&B. He told me once that he told me when I started driving that he didn't care if I ended up a communist or gay, but that if I didn't like Ray Charles, I would have to move out as soon as I was 18. He'd tell me stories of driving to Jackson, MS, to the all-black clubs to watch the musical acts. They wouldn't let him in, but there was one place where they would open the alley door to the kitchen which, if they opened the kitchen door on the other side, gave him a straight line of sight to the stage. He'd sit on the hood of his car in the alley and watch folks like Percy Sledge sing their guts out.

So, while this tickles him, I can see a little bit of that kid sitting on the hood of his car watching all of this new music pulsing through the segregated south. Must have been some heady stuff. For me, it gets a pass over my usual Christmas music loathing for that. 

In fact, the way music can wash away the years and take you back to being 16 for a few minutes is one of my favorite things about music and don't trust people who don't enjoy at least a song or two. You catch someone with the right song at the right time, and I think you can actually get a glimpse of all the best of who they are before the world started eroding it away and making them hide what's left. 
 

 

[DaveH]

2 hours ago, DaveH said:

My favorite is the one that never gets played.

In retrospect, I do occasionally enjoy Porky Pig's 'Blue Christmas'.

[hamerhead]

I'm a big fan of Al and Bob's stuff. This one would be my favorite Christmas song, if only because I don't hear it that often.