Hear Me Out

I'm gonna make a statement, and some of you are going to be kind of judgy about it. I would just like to preface this with: I don't care. Be judgy all you want. Because I think you're crazy if you don't agree whole-heartedly with me on this one.

It is perfectly acceptable (and I would say a damn fine idea) to listen to Christmas carols in October.

Again, I realize some of you are screaming out loud right now, but hear me out.

Fall is my favorite season. I love that it's warm in the sun in the afternoon and cold at night. I love that everything turns beautiful, rich, warm colors. I love that you can get pumpkin flavored anything. (I'm drinking pumpkin ale right now. It's pretty good.) I love it all.

However, there is no fall music. There's no Autumn Carols. All that fall has is the Monster Mash and soundtracks of creaky doors and ghosts wailing. That does not really make me want to curl up by the fire with a cup of coffee. It also does not make me want to bake pies and bundle up to play outside.

Christmas carols make me want to do all of those things.

Now, I don't go crazy and put up a tree and start wishing people Happy Holidays (PC) in October. I only listen to Christmas carols when it's cold enough to build a fire in our fireplace and when I'm just chilling in my house.

When the Christmas season really gets into swing, I'll be playing them all the time. For now, I still play the year-round selections at work. That will change as soon as Thanksgiving is over. Then it will be non-stop Christmas joy.

To sum up, Christmas carols in October are like a good movie trailer. They give away just enough to make you want more, but they don't ruin the real thing. Try it this year. See how you like it.

P.S. I treat myself to one (or two) new Christmas albums every year. My favorite last year was the Hotel Cafe one (see below). Please send me suggestions if you've got a favorite.

Song of the Day (last year's favorite): Winter Song by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson (Song starts at 2:50) (See? Enjoyable even in October.) (Watch the actual music video here. It's really cool, but BMG disabled embedding because it would probably be bad to have people promote your artists on their blogs.) (I like parentheses.)