Culturess writers on their favorite Christmas moments

Cheryl Wassenaar

At this point, I think I’ve established that I enjoy Christmas music. I, in fact, enjoy particularly ridiculous Christmas music, including the Star Wars Christmas album. However, that doesn’t preclude me from also enjoying some more conventional music, and chief among my favorite albums is Christmas Portrait from Carpenters. To be absolutely specific, it’s the CD version, not the vinyl one.

But there’s just something to be said for Karen Carpenter’s velvety voice singing everything from “The Christmas Waltz” to perhaps the best-known songs from this album: “Sleigh Ride” and “Merry Christmas Darling,” both of which get plenty of play around this time of year.

However, if you have the opportunity to listen through the full album, you might even enjoy the instrumental tracks. Sure, some of them drag on a little long, but it makes the return of that voice seem all the sweeter. It’s something you can turn down and just let linger in the background, or it’s something to turn up and try and sing along to.

Whenever my mom requests music to decorate or work on her Christmas baking, this album is always in heavy rotation, and it’s a wonder that the CD isn’t so scratched and beat up that she needs a replacement.

Presumably, though, that’ll be coming sometime in the near future.

Next: 20 non-traditional Christmas movies to watch this year

With that, we here at Culturess wish you a happy holiday!