Why Christmas Music is Awesome
I would say that “it’s almost that time of year,” but that time is here. What exactly am I talking about? Well, Christmas music season, of course. According to several reputable sources (i.e. myself), Christmas music season officially begins on the day after Thanksgiving and continues for as long as the Christmas tree stays up, which, if you have a faux one, could be a while.
My favorite Christmas hymn changes every year without fail – it was “O Holy Night” in 2020, “In the Bleak Midwinter” in 2021 and “Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending” last year – but my favorite secular songs tend to stay the same. “It’s Christmastime, Charlie Brown” is a pretty consistent choice, and so is “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Any song that makes you feel like you’re sitting by a fireplace with a Christmas tree off to one side and waiting for Santa to come...it’s a good one.
Listening to Christmas music, to me, feels a little like eating dessert. Dessert isn’t the main part of the meal, but it sure is the most special. In the same way, the time between Black Friday and whenever the Christmas tree comes down isn’t the whole year, but the music we listen to is some of the most special, to me, out of the whole year. The fact that it’s like a little treat at the end of the year makes it so much...sweeter.
I vividly recall singing the words to “Jingle Bells” on the bus ride home from school in kindergarten for what seemed like the entire month of December. Okay, let me rewind that. When I say, “the words to Jingle Bells,” I really mean the whole “jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg” situation. You know what I’m talking about, right? There were only two of us on that bus route, and I’m sure our bus driver couldn’t wait to get us out of there every day.
As a kindergartener, singing the alternate lyrics to “Jingle Bells” was how I got myself through those few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when I knew that one of my favorite times of year was on its way, but wasn’t quite there yet. The music I sing – or just listen to – now might have changed, but my anticipation for Christmas hasn’t. Instead, I’m sitting in the basement of Link Library, prepping for finals, and I realize that I could be listening to a mix of Sufjan Stevens, Phoebe Bridgers, For King and Country, and a variety of other bands’ Christmas songs through my earbuds. Somehow, I find, this playlist seems to make me more productive.
Don’t even get me started on productivity right now, though – because we all know how hard that is. Having less than three weeks between returning from Thanksgiving break and driving or flying home for Christmas isn’t a lot. When you add Christmas at Concordia, “dead week,” and finals into the mix, we’re all bound to feel a little frazzled, and that can make it hard to be productive or focused.
What I’m trying to say here is that listening to Christmas music, at least for me, is a way to stay grounded, even in the chaos of the last few weeks of the semester. It reminds me that I have something to look forward to, but that I don’t want just to skip over the next few weeks. I want them to last so that I can keep listening to Christmas music for a longer time (of course).
Maybe Christmas music isn’t the same way for you – and that’s quite alright! No matter what brings your focus back to the current moment and just lets you be present is something that’s valuable at this time in the semester. It’s important to have something that feels a little like eating dessert. It’s sweet and maybe your favorite part of the meal, but it’s novel and something to look forward to, not just something you have all the time. When you get it, you want it to last, not end as quickly as possible so that you can move on to the next thing.
Even if Christmas music isn’t your “dessert” during this busy season, find something that is. Enjoy it, hold onto it, and let it keep you in the present moment as you face the last few days of the fall semester.
Want to read more blog content? Find it here.