Quick thoughts, Tuesday edition

This morning, after dropping Lexie off at preschool, I went to rock the vote, and when i turned on the radio in the car, I was greeted by Christmas music on FM 100. Sweet! I am a sucker for Christmas music, and I really do enjoy it. It puts me in the holiday spirit, and makes me realize just how close it is. I understand that this post coupled with the ABBA post from last week pretty much destroys the manly image that I have cultivated over the years, but that's life. If any of you want to join in, click here and click the "Listen Live" button.

In conjunction with this, I am going to unveil a new feature of our blog: Top 3 lists. I enjoy lists; I like reading them in magazines, on websites, wherever. They are usually informative, and because they are normally very subjective, they are highly debatable. Crafting a good Top 10, Top 25, whatever, takes a chunk of time to get just right. But a Top 3 list? Give me pretty much any topic, and I can fire a Top 3 list off the top of my head. For example: Top 3 Bounty Hunters? #1 Boba Fett, #2 Dog, #3 Ummm...okay bad example. Here then, is my Top 3 Christmas Songs On The Radio:

1. "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year", Andy Williams version.
This song always makes me think of going Christmas shopping and seeing lights everywhere. It's a fun, upbeat Christmas song. Plus ESPN usually uses it for their Bowl Week commercials, so that makes it better. And I love the part when he says "...be of good cheer" and the backgrounds singers go "AH AH AH".

2. "O, Holy Night", Josh Groban version
There are a million versions of this song, and this one is one of the best. My criteria on this song: towards the end of the song (3:45 in, or so) the song hits it's crescendo with a "NOEL!!!" glory note. If this makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up, it's a keeper. The Il Divo version is awesome, and Nat King Cole's is a classic. The Jewel version? Not so much.

3. "White Christmas", Bing Crosby version
Pretty tough to go wrong with Der Bingle. Plus, with my family's obsession with this movie, this is a no-brainer.

Just missed the cut: "Mary, Did You Know?", Kenny Rogers version
Great "modern" Christmas song. Stay far away from the Donny Osmond version, another staple in heavy rotation on FM 100.

Our Halloween video will be up soon!