About 2 weeks before Christmas and all through the house...

Well, once again old man winter has moved in to stay here in cold, snowy, Edmonton Alberta. The Christmas lights are up, the malls are busier than they need be, and top forty hits on the radio are now complimented by...Christmas Carols!

I am hot and cold on the whole Christmas Carol thing. I mean, I'll take the classics any day. I'm talking about Nat King Coal singing about chestnuts roasting on an open fire, or Manheim Steamroller putting out an inspiring Carol of the Bells. Of course, how could we forget the quintessential classic, Boney M Christmas album. Feliz Navidad, I Wanna Wish You a Merry Christmas, and Little Drummer Boy...Classic. And since EVERYBODY owns a copy, you'd have to put the band who penned "Rasputin" up there with the Christmas Carol greats.

But, there's a bunch of rubbish out there too, which in my mind defaces the aforementioned greats. Does Jessica Simpson really need to put out a Christmas album?? Wow, can you say money grab? And brutal too! Or, every boy band that ever existed demolishing Jingle Bells; New Kids, your falsetto wasn't any good in your pre-pubescence during the early nineties, and....well, it still isn't. Britney, Mariah, Celine, and the like...please save it. You've all got enough money, and enough issues for that matter - please don't give us any with your overdone versions of Silent Night. I wish it was more of a silent night when I hear this stuff.

See, my perception may also be skewed, as I have a mom who looooves Christmas...and ALL of these Christmas Carol impressionists. From the first of December to the seventh of January, all of these CD's are on a loop at the Ternovoy house. God bless the old man though, who, when it's just the boys playing crib late Christmas Eve, encourages some Tom Petty, or a mix of new Coldplay and classic Cat Stevens...it's a breath of fresh air, just in the nick of time. But mom, we still love ya!

Merry Christmas....Bing Crosby style.