I’ve been carefully building a Christmas playlist for over a decade, adding one track a year. There are now nineteen songs on the list.

  1. “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by Darlene Love
  2. “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley
  3. “The Fairytale of New York” by The Pogues
  4. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Judy Garland
  5. “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” by Brenda Lee
  6. “A Holly Jolly Christmas” by Burl Ives
  7. “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby
  8. “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” By Dean Martin
  9. “Christmas Time is Here (Instrumental)” by Vince Guaraldi Trio
  10. “The Christmas Song” by Nat “King” Cole
  11. “Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson
  12. “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” by John Lennon
  13. “I Wish It Could be Christmas Everyday” by Wizzard
  14. “Here Comes Santa Claus” by Elvis Presley
  15. “What Christmas Means to Me” by Stevie Wonder
  16. “All I Want For Christmas is You” by Mariah Carey
  17. “What a Wonderful World” by Joey Ramone
  18. “Peace On Earth/Little Drummer Boy” by David Bowie & Bing Crosby
  19. “Father Christmas” by The Kinks
  20. “Merry Xmas Everybody” by Slade

This year’s addition is “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” It’s been a long time since this playlist moved from “here are some cool Christmas songs” to “here’s this year’s standard,” but so be it. My goal is just to pick my favorite Christmas songs, and every time I come across a new one, I add it to a list, but year after year a classic song beats the newer additions onto the list.

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