I admit it, I'm a sleep-singer

one of my favorite things about Christmas time is listening to Christmas music. of course you have to be crazy if you don't like singing along to these jolly tunes. I like to start listening to my cheery favorites the day after I've stuffed my face with turkey! pandora is my choice of radio. it's so wonderful because it's online and it only plays songs you like! it doesn't get much better than that. I sing along all day long as I study for finals and finish up projects. I have to say a lot of Christmas music, while I love it, doesn't represent to me what Christmas is about. 


I know many have written and spoken of the lost sense of the spirit of Christmas. rather than giving, serving, and loving out of the joy in our hearts from knowing Christ, we become consumed with the hustle and bustle of shopping, gift-wrapping, decorating, and attending parties. while all of these things are not necessarily wrong or bad in anyway, I worry that I become consumed by these things during the holiday season. but what my heart desires more than anything is to be close to Christ. I want to reflect the love and joy that being in a relationship with Him brings to my life, if not even more during this season as we celebrate the birth of Jesus. it's not called CHRISTmas for nothing, right?


back to my favorite Christmas music... as a little girl I always sang in the car, in the shower, in my room, and before going to sleep [many times in my sleep - yes, I'm not a sleep talker, but a sleep singer. charming right?] and most of the time while I was singing in the car I was singing along with my dad who is a wonderful singer. one my favorite Christmas songs to belt out while driving was amy grant's "grown up Christmas list". what a sweet, sweet song! I tried oh so hard to figure out how to post a link on here to listen to it but.. epic failure. sorry blogger friends. but instead, here are the lyrics:

Do you remember me
I sat upon your knee
I wrote to you
With childhood fantasies

Well, I'm all grown up now
And still need help somehow
I'm not a child
But my heart still can dream

So here's my lifelong wish
My grown up christmas list
Not for myself
But for a world in need

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
and wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown up christmas list

As children we believed
The grandest sight to see
Was something lovely
Wrapped beneath our tree

Well heaven surely knows
That packages and bows
Can never heal
A hurting human soul

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown up christmas list

What is this illusion called the innocence of youth
Maybe only in our blind belief can we ever find the truth
(there'd be)

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
And everyone would have a friend
And right would always win
And love would never end, oh
This is my grown up christmas list

if you haven't heard this song before, I highly recommend googling it or downloading it from iTunes. it's lovely. of all the Christmas songs I know, this certainly one of my favorites. maybe because of the memories of driving around looking at Christmas lights with my dad and singing, or because it represents what Christmas is supposed to be about... or maybe both. either way, I'll keep singing with joy in my song.