time for some christmas music!

'Tis the season for Christmas music. I love Christmas music, and sometimes I buy too much of it (kind of like how I buy too many Christmas movies). However, Amazon makes it easy to get my fill of Christmas music without breaking the bank, thanks to its $5 Christmas albums. In November, 100 Christmas albums were available for $5 each, but I didn't see anything that caught my fancy. Fast forward to this morning, when I looked at Amazon's $5 albums for December. Not only are two of my favorite Christmas albums (Michael W. Smith's It's a Wonderful Christmas and Amy Grant's Home for Christmas) on the list, but there is an album that made my inner giddy teenager come out, and I bought it as soon as I got home from work. Which album, you ask? *N Sync's Home for Christmas! I have wanted this album since I was 17. It has always hovered around $10, and I have a hard time justifying spending that much on music I only listen to 30 days out of the year. But $5? Totally worth it!

Check out the whole list of $5 Christmas albums. There's so much Christmas goodness here I hardly know where to begin! I recommend the following albums because I have (and love) them: A Charlie Brown Christmas (Vince Guaraldi Trio), Peace on Earth (Casting Crowns), What a Night! (Harry Connick, Jr.), Let It Snow Baby ... Let It Reindeer (Relient K), and Christmas Cheers (Straight No Chaser). But there's a ton of other good music out there, too—albums by Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Avalon, Mandisa, and many more.

Mariah Carey's two Christmas albums, Merry Christmas and Merry Christmas II You, are some of my new favorites, and Merry Christmas is actually Amazon's mp3 Deal of the Day today. I know by the time most of you read this, it'll be tomorrow (or later), but sometimes Amazon's mp3 daily deals last a bit longer than a day. Merry Christmas is definitely worth your $3.99! (And yes, I know that Merry Christmas came out in 1994, so it's not exactly "new." I'd never listened to the whole thing until last year, so it's new to me!)

Also, be sure to check out Amazon's 25 Days of Free. Each day, a new free Christmas song is added to the list. Today's song is by Celtic Woman.

And just so you know, the Christmas album I'm dying to get this year is Michael Bublé's Christmas. But at $11.99, I'll just content myself with streaming it through Spotify for now!

What's your favorite Christmas album? Which one are you trying to rationalize buying this year ... or which one did you already buy?

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need a boost?

Dunkin' Donuts is giving away samples of their new coffee. Thanks to Jen for alerting me!

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and now, a word from our sponsors

Okay, not really, but I do feel like I've been plugging Straight No Chaser enough lately that they should start paying me! If you're not on the SNC bandwagon yet (and if not, why not?), maybe this will help. Click here. It will take you to the SNC Advent Calendar. Count over to Day 18, click on the window, and then follow the link to get a free download of their version of "Auld Lang Syne." The calendar has other free stuff too, but nothing as cool as the download. Enjoy!

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catching up

Now that NaNoWriMo is over, I feel like I have my life back. Sort of. I'm no longer tied to my laptop for hours a day, but December brings its own craziness. So here are some little snippets I've been wanting to tell you but haven't taken the time to yet:

• Amazon is once again offering a free Christmas mp3 every day of the month through Christmas. Of course, these are hit and miss in their quality, but it's worth checking out.
• Last year, I blogged about Christmas music. Karen left a comment recommending Selah's Rose of Bethlehem. At that point last year, I'd already spent way too much money on Christmas music, so I didn't consider buying it, even though I love Selah. Yesterday, it popped up as a recommendation on Amazon. I listened to the 30-second preview of each song, and then I downloaded the mp3 album. Phenomenal! I highly recommend it.
• I officially have my first cold of the season ... fortunately, this cold seems to be controllable by DayQuil. Most of the time, cold medicine just knocks me out, but today I felt better after taking it! I'm hoping my ears don't get plugged ... that would make singing quite difficult!
• Speaking of singing, we have our first official Singing Christmas Tree concerts this weekend. We had a dress rehearsal last night, and things were pretty rough (as in nearly all the altos stopped singing during one song because we couldn't find our notes. It was truly painful). We have another dress rehearsal tomorrow night, and the concerts start on Saturday ...
• But I'll be missing the Saturday concerts because I'm going to see The Nutcracker in Omaha with our international students!
• You might notice new badge on the left hand side of the blog. I've joined another book review program--"Blogging for Books" for Waterbrook Multnomah. Multnomah put out the Palisades romances in the '90s, but they do publish books that aren't in the Christian romantic fiction vein. I'm very excited about the first two books I'm going to review for them, but as I don't have the books yet and the reviews can't be posted until sometime in January, I'll keep you in suspense a little longer!
• Saw The Blind Side with my sisters and cousins on Sunday. I loved it! It's a feel-good movie and it actually portrays Christians in a positive light! (Side note: Tim McGraw looks completely different when he's clean shaven and not wearing a cowboy hat!)
• I haven't posted on my other blog since Halloween. I do intend to remedy that soon, honestly!
• The latest issue of the Advance should be mailed tomorrow. (Finally!) You can also see it here. Note my awesome cousin Nate, trumpeter extraordinaire, on page 3 and my wonderful student council kids on page 8. The STUCO kids make my role as adviser fun and incredibly easy!
• I'm having a love affair with apple cider. STUCO sponsored a Thanksgiving social, and we majorly overestimated how much cider we'd need. I brought a full jug home with me, and I've been drinking some every night. How had I never before realized just how awesome cider is?
  
• My apartment is still completely undecorated. I did put up my stairwell decorations, so anyone who goes to the mailboxes will think I'm ready for Christmas. It's just a ploy. Maybe I'll have some time on Saturday???
• Cari suggested I write the book jacket synopsis for my novel and post it. That's a great idea ... I'll just have to force myself to do it! I will throw you a bone for now ... the title is Together for Good. 
• Have to give them points for creative marketing ... I got this in the mail the other day:
  
  
  
  
  
  I really have no interest whatsoever in the show (especially after reading the review in TV Guide), but I could always use another jump drive!
  
  
  
  
• Our amazing drama team took second place in our district this week! I love drama competitions because I don't have a real job to do--I just go along because I'm state certified and our drama director isn't. So I get to enjoy the play without the stress that comes with being in charge! The play is called "Searching for Happily Ever After." It is, as one of our judges so aptly put it, "Walt Disney meets the Bible."
  

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my continuing countrification

For a limited time, Amazon is offering a free mp3 download of a song by a CMA nominee. The promotion runs through November 22, and there are hundreds of songs to choose from. I know. I spent far too long previewing songs last night! Of course, it helped that I knew that I should be writing, thus making listening to 30-second clips of songs I'd never heard of before that much more appealing!

When I saw the offer, my first thought was that I should get "that song about the guy who cheats and gets hit by a bus." I soon learned that it's "Best Days of Your Life" by Kellie Pickler, and as Ms. Pickler was evidently not nominated for a CMA award, her songs were ineligible.

After much listening (with only a small bit of writing intermixed), I narrowed it down to "Waiting on a Woman" by Brad Paisley, "Start a Band" by Brad Paisley & Keith Urban, and "I Told You So" by Carrie Underwood & Randy Travis. I finally decided to wait ... and after having "I Told You So" run through my head all day, I just downloaded it.

Here's the thing: All three of my "top" songs are country country. And I love 'em! What's happened to me???

Get your claim code and free song here!

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