Here is my recollection of the first time I heard three non-carol, non-traditional Christmas songs. Funny how some songs, you just remember the first time, always. Kind of like some people--you remember exactly how you met them. Others seem to just kind of appear out of nowhere into the fabric of your life.
5. "Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth" by David Bowie & Bing Crosby. I first heard this just last year. I laughed, and laughed, and laughed. N showed it to me. Seriously?!? David Bowie singing a Christmas song? With a straight face, and maybe with a little meaning, due to his son.
4."Christmas Shoes" by...I don't know. I always think of this as the "Oh no! Not the shoe song again!" song. I first heard it in 2002, when I was living with Jennster. The first time you hear it, it kind of tugs on your heartstrings a little, but every time thereafter it seems like a Kenny G/Kenny Loggins mishmash of ultimate cheese that turns out a little more moldy/smelly than you wanted it to be. I think the message is good, but one where a little goes a long way.
3. "Last Christmas"
by Wham!, I was sixteen. I was in my room, laying on my bed, thinking teenage thoughts. I remember when I heard it the first time, I thought the song was sooooo
hilarious. It was an awesome combination of petulant,
feeling-sorry-for-myself, and hopeful-just the right mix to perfectly
appeal to a teenager. Now the song just makes me a little sad.
2. Betelehemu - BYU Men's Chorus. I don't remember when this began to be
a staple in the house, but I remember the first time I really paid
attention to it. I was about fifteen. I remember thinking that the soloist had the second most beautiful high man's voice I'd ever heard (the first belonging to the person who sings the solo in "Lechaim" in the soundtrack of Fiddler on the Roof). Now the most beautiful high voice belonging to a man is a tossup between a Korean guy and a Japanese guy. Ask me if you want details. Every year I drag this one out for about a week and listen to it nonstop. It's really different to listen to different versions of it, too...but this is the one I heard first, and I love it best.
1. "All I Want For Christmas" by Mariah Carey. I was trying on jeans at the brand new Gap in the Riverwoods mall. I think I was about...hmmm...fourteen or fifteen at the time. At the time I remember being slightly perplexed at the number on the inside tag of my jeans. (I was even more perplexed when, ten years later, I tried on jeans at a different Gap...I was the same size, and the size on the jeans was half the number it was back then!) After that, I heard it everywhere. Everywhere. At the time I didn't really get the song...I mean, I liked that it was bouncy and stuff, but the idea of wanting one person for Christmas when you could have, say, a cell phone, or a bass guitar, or any other thing a girl that age could possible dream of. Dreaming for boys for Christmas was just not on my radar back then.
