‘Tis the season of warm and cozy activities, quality family time and general giving and receiving. Like most people, the winter holiday season is one of my favorite times of the year. One thing about the holiday season that I love the most are the holiday songs.

Just a warning before I get started listing them, I celebrate Christmas. I know not everyone celebrates Christmas and therefore might not appreciate the list being solely Christmas music. I am not as educated as I could be in other religious holiday music, so it wouldn’t be truthful of me to include them.

But please note that I am aware of the other holidays celebrated during this time and if you celebrate something other than Christmas and have song suggestions for me please let me know and I will love to listen to them and include them in future holiday music posts.

So, to stop rambling, here are my Top 5 Holiday/Christmas songs…

5. All I Want For Christmas Is You – Mariah Carey
This is on my list as one that started off as joke but turned out to be an absolute MUST listen to during the holiday season. My friend Cherry and I sing this to each other all the time, especially now that we are apart. We even played it during the summer, max volume, driving around with the windows down. It’s just one of those songs that you’re not sure why you love it, you just do.

4. Mistletoe – Justin Bieber
I threw this one in here simply for the inside joke I have with my friend Cherry. All I’m going to say is, Cherry..if you’re reading this…”hey love!” She’ll get it. But, again this is one of those songs that I have no other reason why I have to listen to this song during the holidays I just do.

3. O Holy Night 
The next ones will be traditional songs that I have always loved for more than one reason. “O Holy Night” is one of those songs that, when arranged right, can be absolutely breath taking. I always imagined a huge choir singing this song and taking away the instrumental and just doing a cappella. The sound of the different voices just filling the room and sending shivers down your spine..OH LORD! Beautiful. But it can also be just very subtly with just one voice and more intimate and still be beautiful.

2. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – Judy Garland version
If you know me, you know I love Judy Garland and everything she does. Her rendition of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” is so hauntingly beautiful that you forget what the actual meaning of the song is. The scene in the movie when she sings this song your heart just aches. I’m not going to say what the scene is about, but if you haven’t seen the movie “Meet Me In St. Louis” please do! I could honestly listen to this song any day of the year.

1.Blue Christmas
My favorite Christmas movie is “A Year Without A Santa Claus” and towards the end a little girl sends a letter to Santa about how she will miss him this Christmas. The song that plays during that scene is “Blue Christmas” and ever since I saw that movie I loved this song. For some reason the song makes me appreciate what I have every year. I couldn’t pick a version that is my favorite so I will link the most popular one by Elvis. I get emotional every time I listen to this song and for that reason its my favorite.