Some grinches complain that the Christmas Music comes on earlier and earlier every year -- and they're right. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I'd hear Bing Crosby crooning "Happy Holidays" before we'd even hit October. To be sure, I heard this at somebody's house, rather than a store, but nevertheless: I'm taking it as the starting gun.
The CD I heard was the near-perfect Christmas With the Rat Pack, which I sadly don't own (but is, ahem, on my wish list). My first purchase of the year, courtesy of Emusic, was Brian Setzer's swingin' "Dig That Crazy Christmas," which I highly recommend. But the point of this post really isn't recommendations. It's to say that if you, like me, are an unashamed lover of Christmas music and spend nine-or-so months out of the year anticipating when you can finally reenter it into the rotation, consider your listening sanctioned.
