âDespite the commerce involved, we hope you will consider this our gift to you.â
-Lowâs Christmas liner notes.
Ahhh the holidays. For me itâs Christmas. Now while I lean toward the more secular, bedazzled version  containing spangles, boughs of holly and sticky mugs of GlĂŒhwein rather than mangers and swaddling clothes (blatant honesty, folks), I understand that all encompassing âholiday timeâ means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. I have shamelessly chosen the Candy Cane Lane version and Iâm happy with it.
I suppose I get my love of the holiday season from my mother and father. Especially my father. He was SO into it. We had a grand time stringing up lights on a hand-cut tree and decking the family halls with boxes of ancient, gilded doodads and hand-hewn wooden ornaments, holiday LPs playing in the background. Today, as an adult living in Munich, it is like Iâve landed square on Planet Christmas (Dad, youâd love it!). Simply stated, it is the most glorious place on earth from mid-November until New Years Day. Despite geography I have carried on family traditions, albeit more abbreviated and fit for a smallish flat in the city, to the best of my ability. So has my sister. Music included.
I have an old friend who must possess the largest Christmas music collection known to man, hands down (Iâm looking at you, Shawn). I own but a few favorites, including mixes made by the gentleman I just mentioned, and every so many years something catches my eye and I pick it up. Recently I happened upon this bargain bin beauty. For a mere âŹ6, it is the most solid collection of old school tunes Iâve come across. I could live without Connie Francis singing the lordâs prayer, but Johnny Mooreâs Three Blazers make up for it with the poetry in âMerry Christmas Babyâ:
Merry Christmas pretty baby, you sure been good to me
Well I haven’t had a drink this morning, but I’m all lit up like a Christmas tree.
Well said, Blazers. Well said. Moving onâŠ
While I was going through our (few) Christmas records my husband asked if I minded if he chose something,âIâm putting on Sigur RĂłsâ ĂgĂŠtis Byrjun, OK? Because that is Christmas to me.â
Apparently, nearly a decade and a half ago (yes, unbelievably, the record is THAT old) he spent the holiday listening to it on a Discman on snowy walks. Lovely and nary a reindeer (or dreidel for that matter) in sight. It works. Try it.
At the end of the day, however, there is always a most favorite when it comes to music, whatever the genre. Duluth, Minnesotaâs slow-fi outfit, Low, wins my Christmas first prize with their 1999 release, simply titled Christmas. The 8-track swooner contains 5 original tunes and 3 classics. The heartbreaker for me is âLittle Drummer Boyâ. It doesnât have anything on I Could Live in Hope (a personal desert island) but it gets the olâ Christmas fires burning. I highly recommend it.
So, with this I bid you fond farewell for another year. 2013 is (mostly) done and dusted. Whatever your faith or anti-faith, continue to keep those you love as close as possible, do a good deed or 2 for those without and just be decent. Please, I beg you, be non-violent and decent. And keep the wax spinning, of course.
Happy weekend.
[Abby’s Road is a Knox Road feature published every other Friday.]