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!

My Christmas Traditions & Happy New Year

           We always did our Christmas family reunion in high fashion. It is like walking into the Academy Awards in your best dress. Some have the most beautiful of red dresses draped over their bodies. The men all wearing suits or their cute ugly sweaters. Santa Claus always finds his way here in his big red suit and bag filled with promises and toys to place under the huge pine tree that greets you when you walk in. The walkway is sometimes a carpet of fresh, white snow, and it is usually the most extravagant of parade ways. The hype is so high, it is a celebration from the moment of entry.

I haven’t seen some of the faces of my family members since last year at

this time. We converge with a kiss on the cheek and the request to remove your shoes and to walk with just your socks on your feet over the wooden floors. I think it is fun because when you get into the danceable moments sponsored by my curated Spotify playlists, you can sing along to the Christmas carols, dip, and slide across the floors with a smile bigger than Carlton’s on the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

I mask my winter blues like I always do when I see them. It is like a glow of stardust washes my troubles away and brings me sparks of joy. Seeing my family member’s eyes bring a glow over the verge of tears that I’d been facing. The year can sometimes push me to the brink of despair but for this family gathering, I feel like a poem of bubbling brooks and flowers blooming.

And as they walk in the door, the aroma of something savory is wafting from the kitchen. Every burner and rack in the oven is occupied with a food item on its way to being ready to eat. The counters filled with spices, desserts being decorated, and foods still being prepped for cooking.

We cook like this is the last supper with more food than you would probably eat in the 525,600 minutes that measure the year. There is so much deliciousness spread out over the table that your stomach gets filled just by looking at it. My mother put her foot into each and every bit of the meal that is about to be shared. The turkey timer has popped and now I can add my corn souffle into the oven so that it can be ready for the dinner we are about to serve.

I added my two senses into cooking as well and turn my kitchen into a canvas and the ingredients that get added are like my paint. Art is on my mind and the ideas I sketch with the charcoal pencils of my fingertips. The food we eat, a picture-perfect masterpiece like those in MOMA, and all who are exposed to it are getting a piece of my heart.

The dinner call is sounded, like a chapel bell of a 16th-century church and the whole family approaches the table. We gather and we pray over the meal:

“Father God, thank you for the day that you made and for the food that we eat and for the hands that prepared it and for the family that gathered, for those who wanted to come but didn’t find the opportunity, and for those who have become ancestors and rest in your peaceful arms. That you might continue to bless us and to keep us and to protect us with your grace and with your love. You are mighty and everlasting and we love you and bless you. In the name of Jesus. Amen.”

It is cute to hear the little ones who can barely talk say, “Bonne Appetit,” but we all do it in our little celebration. Actually, I make sure to make them say it so that they can have knowledge of some of the words from our Haitian culture. Those words are part of it. Some of the foods and drinks found on the table are as well like the Kremas which is like eggnog with rum in it or the Griot which is pork chunks that are one of the many meat items on the table and diri a djondjon which is black rice with dried mushrooms.  

It is more than just the eating that is involved. The stories we share of tradition and exoticism always pique my interest. When you think about all the experiences you face in a year’s time, it is no secret that there is so much to talk about if the right person to talk to sits at your gate. We sip some of the best Apple Cider you can find and chat. Maybe a sibling or cousin is the family that becomes your listening board, or maybe it is a friend who is like family, who intently listens to the ranting of it all without judgment or interruption. This is what makes the conversations interesting. There is always something new being told, something different being shared that you have yet to hear and that you are newly learning for the first time. The laughter is like a weight being lifted off because it surely makes you feel better.

We eat and chat and then we play our annual Taboo game. It is always such a fun experience trying to get our team to guess the words that we are attempting to animate so that we can win the game. I think I laugh the most during these times because it is so much fun just getting lost in these moments that never seem to get old.  While we play, everyone is experimenting with all the different desserts that are on the table; cakes, cookies, pies, ice cream, jello, and candy. These are the yummy moments that are passed until we start to distribute all the different gifts that are under the tree.

Everyone in the place is unwrapping gifts in excitement over what someone thought was a good gift for them. I’ll never forget the time when my next-door neighbor put a Michael Jackson jacket in a box for me and gave it to me. I wonder if that was one of the reasons that I became a performing artist. That was one of my favorites. The other most memorable was an album of Miles Davis recordings, and I love Miles Davis. What a beautiful gift to receive from a kid at that. Seems like Auntie’s baby knows me better than I thought; made me so happy.

The night ends with everyone packing a big foil tray filled with food to take home. Everyone scatters out the door back onto the carpet full of snow and make their exit back to their regularly scheduled programs. It is sad to see them all go and even sadder to know of all the cleaning that needs to be done to bring the art of Christmas back to a blank canvas.  

I think sometimes I count five hours of washing dishes, cleaning pots, and putting glasses and other things back into the china for safe keeping until next year, same time, same celebration. But to think of the reason for continuing on in this tradition for as long as we have, a smile is ignited.

We continue on. The numbers might decrease due to heaven calling some to its gates but it is always a welcome celebration that will always make Christmas one of my favorite times of the year.

And now that the year is coming to a close, I am thankful for all these traditions and for all the good times and bad times, and for being blessed to see this moment of time. I find peace in it knowing that I made it through. God has been so good and it is not a secret.  May your 2023 be the most lovely, prosperous, and powerful year that you have ever seen. I offer to you "Peace on Earth: https://youtu.be/ctlbmq9Rit8

 Good tidings to you and yours and hope to see you in the new year. 

Blessings!

New Music Tuesday: Check out NYC Singer/songwriter Stephanie Jeannot's new tune "Jesus is the Reason"

New Music Tuesday:
"Jesus is the Reason” by Stephanie Jeannot

   A song writter to make sure that while we are remembering to decorate for the holidays, and to sing carols, and to buy present for our loved ones, that we not forget that Jesus is the reason for the season.

A song off “Let the Praises Rise,” the EP ©℗ 2022, All Rights Reserved
Check it out here:

https://youtu.be/ruscW1jwXTk
Have you heard “Let the Praises Rise” by Stephanie Jeannot. #hearnow https://stephaniejeannot.hearnow.com #stephaniejeannot #letthepraisesrise #christmas2022

My Favorite Things

One of my all-time favorite movies is “The Sound of Music.”

I have loved it since the fay I was strongly built and until today, it is like a fresh breath of air. Time has not changed the tide of love that flurries through my body when I see Julie Andrews walking across each scene doing what she did so beautifully. I guess my love for music falls in line with hearing her song the Do-Re-Mi song. Her singing lured me in and I never miss an opportunity when it is on television to let the hills come alive with the sound of music in my home.

So, when the opportunity to sing the song live came about, you can imagine how many times I had to brush the tears from my eyes to face the audience and sing “My Favorite Things.”

“My Favorite Things” is a tune by Rogers & Hammerstein from 1959 which was originally written for their play, “The Sound of Music.”The main character from the play, Maria, loved raindrops and roses and whiskers on kittens. I don’t like kittens so much but the stuffed kitten animals are cute. 

I do love roses though. You should know that on almost every stage that I sung on in Russia, somebody from the audience gave me a beautiful bouquet of roses and it was such a beautiful and welcoming thing for me that kept me smiling in the beautiful, distant place, for miles around.

Maria loved bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens. I love bright copper kettles because I am a tea lover and try to have a spot of tea daily. I love woolen mittens and wish I had some when I was in Russia because it was cold. But at least I had gloves. Maybe I’ll get some for the NYC winter that has suddenly embraced us. I mean it is December.

Maria love brown paper packages tied up with strings and I love the strings of a bass guitar that seem to enhance the sound of music, when you listen to it; especially when it is live. She loved girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes. I love my nephews in anything they wear and in whatever they do because they are such cute young gentlemen with so much promise. I also love hearing my mother sing and when my father comes out of nowhere and compliments some aspect of my music. I love when my older sister invites me somewhere and when my younger sister sends me leads that might help me with my music. 

You can probably tell that most of my favorite things involve music. Like for instance, I love listening to frank Sinatra sing and I love to listen to Grover Washington Jr’s music. I love poinsettias and I love singing Christmas carols.

“My Favorite Things” has become a song that many refer to as a tune for the holidays. I love John Coltrane’s version and can’t resist enjoying Betty Carter’s rendition. For just one moment, I hope that you will stop and indulge in my rendition, as I performed it live with the Medgar Evers Jazz Ensemble at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, NY.  Here is the link: https://youtu.be/Q9NLJ6w2LXE

Today's post is dedicated to Frank Sinatra and Grover Washington Jr; two fellow sagges who celebrate their birthdays this week.  As I rambled about some of my favorite things, I am interested in hearing about some of yours. Would you please leave a comment and share those things that make your heart flutter with me? 

Thank you so much for reading my blogpost and from my heart to yours, happy holidays.