The snow is falling outside our doors today and inside our warm design studio the Evantine elves are feeling downright festive!  Nothing says Christmas like fresh white glittering snow!  So it’s high time we put on some of our favorite holiday music selections and CRANK UP the volume!  But with our very diverse crew of creative (and somewhat eccentric) characters, discovering what music says “Christmas” proves challenging, if not a wee bit fascinating.   At least for us.

“Although I’m technically Jewish, I do love David Foster’s orchestration of Silver Bells and Josh Groban’s O Holy Night.  They’re just beautiful melodies.  But I really prefer instrumentals, unless a Christmas carol is being sung by a clear and melodious voice with exceptional pitch and vibrato, which leaves out Taylor Swift. And Burl Ives.”  Arlene Bluestein, Event Designer

“Christmas music at our house could range from Dean Martin crooning Baby It’s Cold Outside to Luciano Pavarotti singing O Holy Night.  Throw in a little Elvis with Blue Christmas, Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Sugar Plum Fairies, and Nat King Cole’s Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire and we’ve got holiday magic.  And although Grandma [never] Got Run Over by a Reindeer at my house, I must admit that Alvin and The Chipmunks have visited many, many times.   Edwina Mendicino, Floral Designer

“Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms because I was born on Christmas Eve 1957, the year the song was released.  My mother told me that this song played over and over and over and OVER again while she was in the hospital giving birth to me.  I think it was ingrained in my head pre and post birth.  I also like Monster Mash, but it’s not a Christmas song so I won’t say that one.”  Brian Kappra, Event Designer & Owner of Evantine Design

“The Vince Guaraldi Trio’s Christmas Time is Here is my absolute favorite vocal and/or instrumental Christmas song. Either way it’s happy, carefree and classic.  Whoever doesn’t like A Charlie Brown Christmas is just plain WEIRD.”  Kevin Brown, Warehouse Manager

“Holiday music starts around Thanksgiving for me with Josh Groban’s Thankful but quickly moves on to Sarah McLachlan’s Happy Christmas (War is Over) and then on to anything by Johnny Mathis!  Living on opposite coasts from my parents, I tend to connect with them through music like my mother’s favorite Mathis song It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas.  I’m Christmas shopping with her every time I hear it.  But I truly love Faith Hill’s A Baby Changes Everything because it’s a modern and unexpected interpretation of the birth of Christ.  The first time I heard it I so was caught off guard that I kept hitting replay, over and over again until I knew every word.  Of course, I’m a total sucker for sappy emotional melodies.  If it’s gut-wrenching, it’s got my name written all over it.”  Melissa Paul, Wedding Planner & Event Designer

“Noel by Joan Baez – simple, pure and beautiful. It was the first holiday album I bought (in 1969!) and it’s always the first album I play to start the holiday season.  Back then her voice was still quite high and crystalline, and her rendering of O Come, O Come Emanuel is a knockout.  I also love Amahl and the Night Visitors – preferably the original recording. It’s an opera in English by Gain Carlo Menotti, the first opera written for television, back in 1951. A sweet, magical story about the three Magi stopping at the home of a poor shepherd boy and his mother on their way to Bethlehem.  Always the SECOND album played each year.  Just In Time For Christmas by Nancy LaMott, the consummate singer performing lovely versions of familiar songs along with some new pieces like All Those Christmas Clichés.”  Saint James Shatzer, Production Manager

“Because I LOVE when it snows on Christmas it’s got to be White Christmas by Bing Crosby.  Gives me chills every time I hear it because I can just picture getting snowed in somewhere with my husband. Here’s hopin’ and wishin’ and prayin’ for a little of the white stuff (wink, wink)…” Tina Cordero, Boutique Manager & Floral Designer