It’s almost Christmas … so who has time to read?!!? I’m giving you a very simple post today. Here are the Top 5 memorable songs from My Christmases Past. They’re in no particular order and there are probably way more than five. Whatever. Please enjoy them as you bake pies/wrap a bicycle/travel to Grandma’s/shop for a Magic Bullet/pull your hair out today. And feel free to skip the write-ups and just listen to the songs. Sometimes I bore me, too.

(1) Do They Know It’s Christmas? … How could I not include this one? I still love it so much. I think it’s the 1984-ness of it all. I actually wrote a whole post about it this time last year. The “altercation” between Boy George and George Michael still tickles me.

(2) Little Toy Trains …. Go ahead. Make fun. It’s from the Donny & Marie Christmas Special in (I’m going to estimate) 1979 because we owned a VCR to tape it. In it, he sings to his first child. And I just loved it. (I always promised I’d be honest here, didn’t I?)

(3) Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth … I’m one of the few people in my circles who actually remembers seeing this original airing on the Bing Crosby Christmas Special in 1977. I have my mom to thank for that. She’s always been a huge fan of all things Bing and thus I was fortunate enough to see the last annual special (variety show-style) when it aired in the late 70s. David Bowie joined the ranks of Michael Landon, Roy Clark, Carol Burnett, Connie Francis, Twiggy and several others I likely wouldn’t have known existed otherwise back then.

(4) Snow Miser/Heat Miser – From The Year Without a Santa Claus created by Rankin & Bass in 1974. This annual special was always one of my favorites, so much so that I tried in vain to get my hands on one of those little dancing Snow Misers back in the 90s when the internet became everyone’s best friend. I was lucky enough to hear back from one of their sons but learned that almost none of these little characters were actually stored and preserved. Boo!

(5) Hang Up Your Stocking – From Christmas with the Chipmunks (1963). No, I’m not actually THAT old (even though every song I included prior to this one would suggest it). My grandmother owned the album and I had lots of cousins older than me so I think I was born knowing every word to every song on it. This song was always one of my favorites. And it locked itself in as number one when my daughter learned it as a toddler and consistently butchered the title lyrics with “Hang Up Your Stop It” yelled with a big smile every time she sang it. We still sing it “wrong” around the house every time it’s on.