Music for the Ultimate Holiday Spirit

It is weird how time changes and we change along with the time that keeps moving forward.

Years ago, it used to bother me that the Christmas holiday became so materialized that it was being exploited so early.

The music started blaring super early and everywhere you would go, there would be decorations and displays of holidays in your face, way before even Thanksgiving; as like it is now. I walked into my local supermarket and the music over the airwaves had me singing down the aisles like I was the star of the show on a stage on Broadway singing my favorite carols. It put the spirit of the holidays in my heart; super early but here we are watching holiday-themed movies and enjoying it.

I won’t have the holiday heart this year. I am ready to celebrate and even feel like I might be getting into the pomp and circumstance of decorating. So keeping in the spirit of the holiday music that always seems to get me into a great mood, I created a music playlist filled with some of the holiday songs that have caught my heart lately and I wanted to share it with you with hopes that it might get you into the mood and perhaps you will enjoy listening to. Perhaps you will enjoy it so much that you'll feel like playing it at your next holiday party or while you are riding in your automobile or while decorating your tree or throught the season. Here is the link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0OdsBVvfiWvF4NnCqNslL1?si=fdda7baa586e4a77



The following is a list of some ofthe songs that are featured on this Christmas-Themed holiday playlist:

 

1.      “All I Want for Christmas” by Mariah Carey is a fun song with great vocals and a wonderful choir singing lyrics that almost dances charismatically to the up-beat music.  It has always been a favorite of mine since it first came out and I think that it still is until this day.

 

2.      “Jingle Bells” by Ella Fitzgerald is a cool, jazzy version of an old popular holiday anthem that is adored by young and old. I like the swinging nature of this tune and her syncopated voicings that make this song come alive in a really awesome way.

 

3.      “Santa Baby” by Taylor Swift is a nice guitar-heavy tune that I like because I can see this song getting a whole dance party on the floor moving their bodies and enjoying the groove on their feet.

 

 

4.      “Last Christmas” by Wham never seems to get old to me. No matter how many times I listen to it, I love it more. It is an enjoyable song to listen to and I love it a lot.

 

5.      “This Christmas” by Destiny’s Child is a nice trio version of this beautiful Christmas tune. I like it because they made it their own and it sounds really nice to listen to with its bop and its pomp.

 

6.      “Snowman” by Sia. I like different songs that are not traditional but are good tunes that are out of the

ordinary and still keep the holiday in the center of it all. Her creativity and voice shines strong int his tune and it rings beautifully.

 

7.      “Jesus is the Reason” by Stephanie Jeannot is a nice tune because of the harmonic value of it and the music is really hot. I also like the singer’s voice. The hook is super catchy and not a regular everyday carol that you hear all the time.

 

 

8.      “Santa Doesn’t Know You Like I Do” by Sabrina Carpenter. I mean, who isn’t loving what Sabrina Carpenter has been doing with her music lately. This song is just all that and definitely a song that will have people singing along like all the other songs that have hit the waves.

 

9.      “Winter Wonderland” by Pentatonix featuring Tori Kelly is just a song that will make you want to listen because of the amazing harmonies and arrangements on this song. Really great version of this lovely holiday tune.

 

10.   “O Holy Night” by Norah Jones. I like the jazzy smoothness of this tune and her scratchy vocals that make it a cool listen. Plus the hits of the music that seem to make this song dramatic and exciting.

 

Other songs featured on this playlist include, “Joy to the World” by Nat King Cole, “Sleigh Ride” by Kelly Clarkson, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” by the Jackson 5, “Feliz Navidad” by Jose Feliciano, “Let it Snow” by Luis Fonti and more.

 

Check out the full playlist here:  https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0OdsBVvfiWvF4NnCqNslL1?si=fdda7baa586e4a77

 

 

Here is to a fantastic holiday season ahead!

POET Tuesday by Stephanie Jeannot

Every day is a day that is good to write poetry; especially if you are a poetess like me. But, today seems like an even more extra special day because it is Tuesday and Tuesday is designated as Poetry Tuesday and so, poetry is the game. Here are a few of the latest poems that have been seeping through my pores. I hope you enjoy. 

I Write

I was born as a poem written in a Fifth grader’s marble notebook

My lines were enhanced by a sword and shield and I turned into an epic

I started this romantic relationship slaying dragons and I was transformed into a song

The main soldier in the story became me when my song became a full-length production

You can watch it at a theatre near you and hear the words to me, the anthem

But wherever I am and whenever life spans, the poetry never dies

I still remain vivid and sonorous within the lines

And the words that breathe through are just fine

Because they are mine

I write

 

Full Hearted

Three pages to get you connected with your own id

Ego surpasses everything that went in

To the scribing times and writing blinds to get to this place

They told me not to read it back or edit, so I cannot erase

All I can do is let it out like a cry when losing face

I thought why not

Seemed like a good idea to give it a taste

And so one day I am there releasing

And other times, not in the mood

But they say to feed the hunger to use my thoughts for food

So I’ve been doing the program to release the artist within

And I’m reaching my hand like a back brush to reach the past of when a kid

And all I know it has rained forty days from when I first had started

Almost more tears than the bubbles of all the times I’ve farted

And I am doing it like a professional trash person; hurts discarded

So I can affirm my truths; I know them full hearted.

Open Book

She said what she felt like she never did before

She let out her muse and it happened more and more

She was open like a book and the test was happening

She was telling all the answers that nobody was asking

She thought it was the thing that was supposed to go on

She spelled out every word to each one of her songs

And never held in anything that could be kept as hush

She probably never considered the fact that she had talked too much

She went from writing her thoughts to a book to sharing them with an ear

She went from using her pencil to release her mind to becoming a mountaineer

She thought using her ropes was the answer to the journey she’d been on

She thought that maybe he had been the clear to her life-long thicket of fog

She never thought that is was wrong because she never had it once

She just started living life and gaining scars and cuts

She knew her wrongs and detours, falls and things that kept her from her climb

These were the things that made her block the world from her reminds

And though she fell into this ditch where she just simply lied

Each knee jerk reaction was another shock to come alive

She stood back up on her two feet again at 7:10

To a new light of inspiration and a melodic beat and it all happened when

She got the thread to gauge his eye to sew up her hem

He was the needle that poked her back to life again

 

 

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Thank you so much for reading my poems. If you liked what you read, perhaps you might enjoy one of my poetry collections.  

And Then There Was the Music: Musical Poetry Collection by Stephanie Jeannot

Pulchritudinous: The Poetry Collection

Follow my author page on Amazon here: Stephanie Jeannot: Amazon Author Page