Out of all the holidays, major or minor, Christmas has by far the most songs associated with it. Thanksgiving? Well, there’s Over The River And Through The Woods and… Hanukah? There are two that I know of. Great songs, but still only two. Halloween? There are quite a few songs that we hear on and around October 31, but most of those are about spooky things unrelated to Halloween and not actually about the day itself. For holiday songs, Christmas has it hands down.

When considering artists who’ve recorded Christmas albums it’s easier to think in terms of who hasn’t done one. From William Shatner to Frank Sinatra and all points in between, virtually every well known musician or celebrity has at one time or another made their musical statement regarding “the most wonderful time of the year.” Christmas songs run the gamut from the mundane and maudlin to the joyous and transcendent.

As a kid, my mom always had music playing around the house and she doubled down at Christmas. From the day after Thanksgiving until our heads hit the pillow on 12/25, our family was served a steady diet of holiday classics. By far the number one record on my mom’s holiday hit parade was Johnny Mathis’ Merry Christmas. Mathis’ smooth as silk crooning on such classics as Winter Wonderland and Silver Bells are forever etched into my childhood Christmas memories. Released in 1958, this album still gets its fair share of airplay. Not far behind Johnny was Nat King Cole’s The Christmas Song, Frank Sinatra’s Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, and Andy Williams’ It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year.

Christmas is such an emotionally charged time of year. There’s a lot of pressure to be happy and to get into the spirit of the season. While I generally look forward to and enjoy the holiday, I’m definitely not always happy around Christmas. The mixed feelings of joy, sadness, melancholy and ambivalence are often hard to reconcile. The most enduring Christmas songs manage to take into account all of these conflicting emotions and produce some truly great music. Vince Guaraldi’s original compositions on the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas is a prime example. Guaraldi’s shimmering piano work throughout this record perfectly captures the emotional rollercoaster that is Christmas. You don’t have to celebrate Christmas in order to enjoy all of the wonderful songs. There are 500 recorded versions of White Christmas, it is widely considered one of the greatest holiday songs of all time. It was written by Irving Berlin, a Jewish man.

Which brings me to my favorite Christmas song. Choosing one is like trying to pick a favorite Hawaiian sunset; there are just so damn many great ones. The Phil Spector produced A Christmas Gift For You is loaded! From the Ronettes rollicking rendition of Sleigh Ride to Darlene Love’s desperate plea on Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) there’s not a dud on the entire album. Karen Carpenter’s achingly beautiful take on Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas sends chills up my spine. The Roches, sister trio from New Jersey, affect heavy Bugs Bunny style Brooklyn accents on their hilarious and unique send up of Frosty The Snowman. Bruce Springsteen’s ebullient Santa Claus Is Coming To Town is enough to make Ebenezer Scrooge himself get up and dance. Last Christmas by Wham! is a dreadful song. The insipid vocals and vapid 80’s synthesizer make this one of the cheesiest Christmas songs of all time, but for a couple of weeks every year my teenage daughter and I laugh ourselves silly every time we hear it. So many songs, so little time.

So drumroll please. My favorite Christmas song is: Keith Richards’ recording of Chuck Berry’s Run Rudolph Run. This bare bones arrangement features in all its raunchy glory Keith’s unique guitar playing that is the trademark of the Rolling Stones sound. While not usually regarded as a great singer, Keith’s “ragged but right” vocals here perfectly captures the rollicking rock and roll spirit of Chuck’s original. I bought this record when it came out on 45rpm in 1978 and it’s been in my holiday rotation ever since. When no one’s home, I crank up the volume and do the air guitar bop around our Christmas tree!

Music is as integral to Christmas as Santa, Rudolph, family and that intoxicating, fresh cut fir tree smell. Thanks to the advent of music streaming, there’s now a nearly endless supply of holiday classics at our fingertips. Pick your favorite playlist and fill the air with the sounds of Christmas.

The trees are nearly naked, their skeletal branches are stark against a white and overcast sky, a sky without definition. The thirty foot oak tree that stands outside our house has picked up the pace at shedding its small, light brown leaves. Like puzzle pieces they cover our cars, the street and the sidewalk. Oak leaves are piling up on our front lawn too. They crunch under my feet as I walk out to check the mailbox. I rake these leaves into a fairly large pile and pause to reflect. This memory floods into my mind.

An enormous pile of leaves, oaks as well, sits in the backyard of my childhood home in New Jersey. My siblings and I sprint towards the pile, leaping with reckless abandon until we land with a crunch and a rustle right in the center. We emerge bursting with laughter, our hair and clothes covered in the badges of autumn.

Years later with children of my own, I’d relive this experience vicariously through them under our oak tree, seeing more than a bit of my eight year old self in their laughing eyes.

The apple, cherry and Asian pear trees in our backyard are also in the midst of a leaf shedding frenzy. Shaped like tropical fish, their brilliant yellow leaves vibrate with contrast as they swim across the grass, turned deep green by the recent rains. At the height of summer these trees form a nearly unbroken canopy of green, obscuring all but a glimpse of the houses and backyards of our neighbors. The trees are alive with birds but they are difficult to spot, hidden as they are in the dense foliage. But with the branches of these trees gradually laid bare, the birds are now in plain sight, the mysterious locations of their springtime nests are revealed as well. Woodpeckers, chickadees, sparrows, robins, jays and warblers can be easily observed as they flit from branch to branch, tree to tree. Feeders- nectar for the hummingbirds, seeds and suet for all the others – provide winter food for them and excellent birding for us.

The thinning foliage of our apple tree reveals the last of the fruit. Bright red apples hang like early Christmas ornaments amidst the jumble of branches and limbs. We’ve reached our limit on eating, juicing, donating to friends and applesauce production so we leave the rest of the apples to the scrub jays, flickers, woodpeckers and squirrels. This has been a banner year for apples so there are plenty to go around.

Right on cue our citrus has begun to ripen. Easter egg yellow lemons, bright orange tangerines, navel oranges and gradually pinkening grapefruits all announce their presence in hues that deepen with each passing day. One of my great pleasures this time of year is eating the tangerines. They always seem to taste best in the morning when their lightly dimpled skin is wet with dew. The peels come away easily, usually in one continuous piece, revealing the small fruit within. When I pop each section into my mouth, there’s a burst of juice and complexity of flavors that can’t be bought in a store. Grapefruits and oranges will be squeezed later, providing us with fresh juice for months.

The days are getting shorter as winter solstice approaches. Darkness arrives early and stays well into the early morning hours. The air is crisp and invigorating. My breath escapes me in swirling clouds of white, each exhalation disappearing quickly into the air. The cool overcast days and near freezing nights allow me to slow down and deeply appreciate the changes that are upon us.

While the leaves gradually disappear, Christmas decorations begin to reappear. I feel a sense of urgency this holiday season. Last year the holidays were for all intents and purposes postponed. With traditional celebrations, gatherings and travel nearly back to pre-Covid levels, we are all thankful and eager to make up for lost time. I began noticing Christmas decorations even before Thanksgiving. Front lawns are now alive with a festive explosion of twinkling lights, color, Santas, reindeer and all the other icons of Christmas.

In closing I can’t forget to mention the sunsets. On certain nights in autumn/winter when the clouds and weather conditions are just right, the evening sky is ablaze with every imaginable shade, hue and tint of pink, yellow, orange, purple and red. Mother Nature has really loaded up her palette with colors this year and on some nights she uses them all.

Winter is closing in. Build a fire in the fireplace, snuggle up someplace warm with the ones you love and savor every moment.