Rock'n and Rav'n Round the Christmas Tree

It seems that every year, the time frame for the "holidays" expands further than my waistline after gorging on pumpkin pie. According to retailers, Black "Friday" now starts on Thanksgiving night (if not the week before in the online marketplace)! And let's not even start with Christmas time. Santa Claus must enjoy trick-or-treating with all the goblins and ghouls because I definitely started hearing holiday songs around Halloween...

But I cannot really complain because deep down in my electronic/rock loving heart, I have a soft spot for holiday music. The Little Drummer Boy. Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Jingle Bells. Hearing these songs reminds me of carolers in the snow, singing good tidings and cheer as snow gently falls onto the cobblestone streets below. Or at least that's how it looks in those Christmas movies...I live in Tucson, after all!

Because I have plenty of traditional holiday CDs, I decided to do some research on alternative Christmas songs available through the library and Freegal (three free downloads a week)! I found musical gifts for patrons both naughty (death metal Christmas anyone?) and nice, so follow the links below for the fun!

Nightmares before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas, and not a creature was stirring, except perhaps Rod Stewart, or Olivia Newton-John. And Ringo Starr, and even Toby Keith.

It is a time honored tradition that every year brings new albums of Yuletide joy from your favorite artist or washed-up musician. To honor these albums, we look at the delightful.. and the not so delightful.

And best of all, these albums are available for checkout from your Pima County Public Library.

For 2012, you can ring in Christmas with a duo familiar to each other: John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John have re-teamed for "This Christmas." Fans of this duo will of course remember them from the movie soundtrack of Grease and Travolta from dozens of movies you probably can't remember the name of.