Cindy’s Annual Christmas Mix CD Disk 1
1.Santa Claus Back in Town: Elvis 2.Winter Symphony: Jennifer Thomas 3.Santa Baby: Kelly Clarkson 4.Snow Waltz: Lindsey Stirling 5.Little Saint Nick: Straight No Chaser 6.The Man With All The Toys: The Beach Boys 7.God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen: Lindsey Stirling 8.Snow on the Beach: Taylor Swift feat. Lana Del Rey 9.Hey Santa!: Straight No Chaser 10. Ice Dance: Jennifer Thomas 11. White Christmas: Michael Buble feat. Shania Twain 12. Santa Claus is Coming To Town: Straight No Chaser 13. Peace on Earth- Hanson 14. Deck the Halls- Relient K 15. Waltz of the Flowers- Pentatonix 16. Jingle Bells- Straight No Chaser 17. Breath of Heaven: Jennifer Thomas 18. Joy to the World: Lindsey Stirling 19. Tis the Damn Season: Taylor Swift 20. All I Want for Christmas is You: Kelly Clarkson 21. Who Spiked the Eggnog: Straight No Chaser 22. I’m Getting Nutten for Christmas- Relient K 23. Last Christmas- Kelly Clarkson 24. Sleigh Ride: Lindsey Stirling 25. Under the Mistletoe- Kelly Clarkson 26. Auld Lang Syne- Relient K
Cindy’s Annual Christmas Mix CD Disk 2
1.Christmas Tree Farm (Old Timey Version)- Taylor Swift 2.Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer- Dean Martin 3.Run Rudolph Run- Hanson 4.‘Zat You, Santa Claus- Louis Armstrong 5.Jingle Bells- Frank Sinatra 6.Carol of the Bells- Straight No Chaser 7.12 Days of Christmas- Relient K 8.Merry Christmas, Baby- Hanson 9.Sleigh Ride- Bing Crosby 10. Mele Kalikimaka- Straight No Chaser 11. The Christmas Can-Can- Straight No Chaser 12. 4 Carats- Kelly Clarkson 13. Nutcracker- Straight No Chaser 14. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas- Relient K 15.I’ll Be Home For Christmas- Kelly Clarkson 16.Deck the Halls- Lindsey Stirling (Instrumental) 17.Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)- Hanson 18.The Christmas Song- Frank Sinatra 19.Winter Wonderland- Elvis 20.Feliz Navidad- Lindsey Stirling 21.God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen- Bing Crosby 22.Ding Dong Merrily on High- C.S. Heath (Instrumental) 23.You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch- Lindsey Stirling feat. Sabrina Carpenter 24. Silver Bells- Elvis 25. We Wish You a Merry Christmas- Craig Duncan (Instrumental) 26. Main Title from Home Alone (Somewhere in My Memory)- Lindsey Stirling (Instrumental) 27. Auld Lang Syne- Straight No Chaser
Liner Notes
Part of my family’s Thanksgiving tradition is that we have our meal around lunchtime, and at dinner, we do soup and chili. And we watch a new Christmas movie.
And usually, after everyone is gone, my sister and I get new Christmas CDs. We call this tradition Thanksmas.
Because of Thanksmas, and the fact that we love Christmas music in our family, our music catalogs have expanded to include a wealth of content for the holiday. Some are old classics like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. And some are modern pop, such as Hanson, and Kelly Clarkson. We also like instrumental Christmas music. Perfect for eating a nice cozy breakfast with the family, or opening our presents on Christmas morning.
I’ve started making these Christmas mixes mostly because most Christmas CDs are 45 minutes or less, and that means that you have to get up and change the cd constantly and that’s annoying. So, I make a cd that clocks in at around 79 minutes (the approximate amount of time/ space allotted on a blank, standard CD-R). Some years, I make the mix before Thanksgiving and give it to our guests, which means I don’t have any of the new CDs to choose from when I make the mix, and thus, I have to think of a creative way to make a fresh, new mix. I have a tendency to make a mix, then insert it back into my computer to rip it- which basically just means that I am saving that mix to my library. I do this so I can look back on it.
A few years ago, I gave one of my mixes to our friends, Aimee and Phil who were living out of state. They wanted some Christmas tunes to rive to, so this was perfect. Last year, we saw them and they were talking about how much they loved my Christmas mixes and hinted that they’d really like it if I made them another. It was probably August or September of 2021 then, so I wasn’t really in the mood for Christmas… however, I set my mind to the task. And I ended up sending them 2021’s mix and 2020’s mix because I wanted to catch them up slowly with all the ones they’d missed.
Last year, and 2020, I themed the mixes. This year, I just went crazy and put whatever I wanted on them, while trying to avoid putting a lot of the songs from 2019-2021’s mixes on at least the first one. I just didn’t want to give them all the same songs.
Some years, I make one mix. Some years, I make 5. But I only usually do 2 official mixes per year, if that.
This probably all sounds confusing, but I don’t mean for it to be.
Now, I’m going to do a section of notes for Disk 1 and then Disk 2.
Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Love, Cindy
Liner Notes Disk 1
The new Christmas CD I got this year for Thanksmas was Lindsey Stirling’s Snow Waltz. Lindsey Stirling plays violin. I already had her Warmer in the Winter album from a few years back.
I decided to start this mix with an oldie. Many times, I start with a newer song, but I thought the Elvis song was a good opener.
I try to vary my track list so that we’re not getting too many instrumentals in a row, or too many really loud songs. I try to not put two tracks by the same artist back to back, but depending on my pool of songs, it usually happens at least once.
This year, I made a random decision to include two songs that aren’t exactly Christmas songs, but fit the mood, and either talk about the holidays, or mention snow… And these two songs are Taylor Swift songs. We have Tis the Damn Season from her 9th album, Evermore. And Snow on the Beach feat. Lana Del Rey from her 10th album, Midnights (just released in October).
Since the radio tends to play certain songs over and over again, I generally try to pick songs that I don’t think would get played too often, that way it’s fresh.
As much as I love All I Want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey, I don’t need to hear it 900 times each Christmas season.
The albums I used for this disk are as follows:
Evermore and Midnights- Taylor Swift
When Christmas Comes Around- Kelly Clarkson
If Every Day Was Like Christmas- Elvis
Christmas- Michael Buble
Finally, It’s Christmas- Hanson
Christmas is Here- Pentatonix
All I Want For Christmas (Deluxe)- Straight No Chaser
Winter Symphony- Jennifer Thomas
Let It Snow, Baby, Let it Reindeer- Relient K
The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album- The Beach Boys (obviously, lol)
If you’re wondering why I used Taylor Swift songs that aren’t from Christmas albums, and aren’t really Christmas songs, it’s because she has an old holiday EP and a song called Christmas Tree Farm and that’s it. There’s not a lot to pick from in that category. Let’s see if for next year, I can manifest a new Christmas CD from her. Let’s put those good vibes out there… Anyway, onto the notes for Disk 2.
Disk 2
Right after I finished making my first Christmas Mix for 2022, I got an Amazon digital credit, so I did what any sensible person would do, I found Christmas Tree Farm (The Old-Timey Version) and purchased it so I could add it to another future mix.
And thus, it became the first track on this second disk of the collection.
You might wonder why I put ‘Zat You, Santa Claus on here… it was sort of a random choice, but this is one of my sister’s favorite holiday songs.
This mix, and others are available on Spotify.
I am also planning on going through my backlog of Mixes and slowly adding them to Spotify as well. So, check back in a few days/ weeks from now, or check back next Christmas and more should be there.
I hope you all have a beautiful Christmas and a Happy New Year.
If you are not a Christmas person, I wish you a good season, and that next year will rock.
Good vibes, that’s what I’m trying to put out into the universe, lol.
🙂
Always, Cindy
Cindy Says: Let's Brainstorm 