[garyspk]

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat. Won't you please put a penny in the old man's hat.

There's probably no one here that's ever heard THAT one.

Anyway, there is probably no person in the world who has listened to more Christmas music over the past few years than I have (my alter-ego/vanilla life requires it). Anyway, here's my ecclectic list of favorites:

1) Santa Claus Is Coming To Town....Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters (You mean the big fat man with the long white beard....) I LOVE this version.

2) All I Want For Christmas Is You...by a southern group called Vince Vance & The Valiants. Lisa Layne is the female vocalist. And this is the best "new" Christmas song in the past 20 years.

3) either Christmas Canon...or Christmas Eve/Sarajevo...by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. 2 fantastic instrumental pieces.

4) I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day...Suzy Bogguss. A great version by a popular Country singer a few years back.

5) Snoopy's Christmas...The Royal Guardsmen...Christmas Bells! Those Christmas Bells! Ringing through the land. Bringing peace to all the world and goodwill to man.

6) Merry Christmas Darling...The Carpenters...has there ever been a better mood-setter than this great song?

7) Nuttin' For Christmas...by Stan Freberg. This is the best version. Stan was the voice of many classic cartoon characters like Pete Puma (yeah, I'm a dork) and this song is a treasure.

8) It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year...Andy Williams

9) The Christmas Song...Nat King Cole.

10) Mary's Boy Child...Harry Belafonte

8-10 are just classics.

Sorry, RG & Rangerboy, you asked....