bah humbug! er, i mean, merry christmas. that’s what i meant to say.

the reality is that i love christmas. i just don’t love all the insane consumerism and shift of focus from, you know, that dude named jesus.

if you catch me griping, though, it will probably be about one main thing: christmas music. not only is it generally bad, but it begins well before thanksgiving. there’s a small part of me that likes the idea of christmas music, but there’s so much of it that’s just bad.

so, what’s a blogger to do? how about create my own christmas-music-that-doesn’t-suck mix?

in my quest to put together a mix of christmas music, my criteria was simple: what can i actually bear listening to? so on this mix, there’s a little bit of everything, from “traditional” music to indie kind of stuff to satan singing about christmas. you know, all the standards.

i’m open to the possibility that my mix sucks just as much as the other stuff, but i thought i’d at least give it a shot and let my own ears have a break from a month (or more) of bad music.

here’s the lineup:

1. o come o come emmanuel / sufjan stevens
2. god is with us / sojourn
3. happy xmas (war is over) / the polyphonic spree
4. christmas lights / coldplay
5. amen, amen / sojourn
6. perfect gift / natalie hemby
7. christmas in hollis / run dmc
8. carol of the bells / the bird and the bee
9. winter winds / mumford & sons
10. it’s true / sara groves
11. that was the worst christmas ever / sufjan stevens
12. sing mary sing / jennifer knapp
13. why can’t it be christmastime all year? / rosie thomas
14. i will be hating you for christmas / everclear
15. i heard the bells on christmas day / pedro the lion
16. christmas cake / rilo kiley
17. silent night / zach gill
18. ave maria / chris cornell
19. come thou fount of every blessing / sufjan stevens
20. all i want for christmas is you / mariah carey
21. please come home for christmas / jon bon jovi
22. christmas (please baby come home) / u2
23. get down for the holidays / jenny o.
24. baby it’s cold outside / leon redbone & zooey deschanel
25. christmas time in hell / satan, the dark prince

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