It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Thanks to me, my dear blogging buddies have to come up with their Top 10 favorite Christmas songs as a special edition of Top 5 Friday. I just couldn’t imagine only choosing 5 songs, narrowing it down to ten is going to be hard enough!

1) There’s No Place like Home for the Holidays by the Carpenters: My mom really loves the Carpenters, and every year during the Christmas holiday she would get out the video camera and turn on the Carpenters Christmas Portrait CD and we would go about decorating the Christmas tree. Now playing this CD is just another family tradition, all the songs are great!

2) Hard Candy Christmas by Dolly Parton: Dolly Parton is by far one of my favorite singers, and when she does her rendition of this song, I get emotional. It is not that I identify with the hard times mentioned as it is more an example of perseverance and getting through a difficult time. I also like Dolly’s I’m Coming Home for Christmas, it serves as my alternate!

3) Baby it’s Cold Outside (Elf Soundtrack): My dear friend Katie and I have been working on this little duet for about 6 years now. Although Katie was not so happy at first that she lost the game to get the girl part, when we tried to switch the roles it just wasn’t the same. Every year we get better and better, and one day we might even take this show on the road!

4) What Christmas Means to Me by Stevie Wonder: This song always reminds me of my besties Jilly, Claire, and Gracie. It is just a happy song that makes you want to get up and dance!

5) Christmas in Dixie by Alabama: As I am writing this, I realize that I like a lot of country Christmas songs! Hmm…anyways, I always liked this song when I was little because it talks about Christmas all over Dixie, and even gives a shout out to my home state of Mississippi!

6) I’ll be Home for Christmas by Bing Crosby: Bing Crosby to me epitomizes classic Christmas music. Christmas is all about spending time with your family, and I can’t wait to see mine soon!

7) Silent Night by Nat King Cole: I cannot tell you how many times I sang this sweet hymn at my church and/or school Christmas plays. I think it’s so easy to get caught up in the presents and forget that Christmas is also Jesus’ birthday. This hymn is a great reminder of the Reason for the Season.

8) Suzy Snowflake by Rosemary Clooney: I can’t really remember how I came to be obsessed with this song senior year of college, but I even recorded it to play as my ringtone for the holiday season. My bestie Gracie and I lived together in the Chi O house and even had matching phones (cute, right?) that weren’t cool enough to play decent ringtones so we had to make our own. Every time I hear this song now I am reminded of my fuzzy recording that started out “ woop look who’s coming”!

9) Where are You Christmas by Faith Hill: This song is off the How the Grinch Stole Christmas Soundtrack and I feel like it represents how I feel about Christmas as I have gotten older. I am huge on traditions and when you get older and things aren’t the same as they were when you were young it is a little depressing. But Faith belts out the line that “the joy of Christmas stays here inside us” and that if you still believe, Christmas can still be special in a different way.

10) Santa Claus is Coming to Town by Perry Como: This song reminds me of my mom’s “threats” to me when I was a little kid, telling me that I better be good because Santa Claus is coming soon and he is watching me. Good thing they didn’t have those Elf on a Shelf dolls back when I was little, I would have totally believed it!

Hope everybody indulges in all things Christmas, it’s getting close!