Christmas time (and the holidays in general) is without a doubt my favorite time of year! It has been ever since I was a little girl. I love the lights. I love decorations. And I LOVE THE MUSIC. As a result, I have been collecting vintage Christmas records for ages—there is something about a holiday song played on a hi-fi that makes it even more festive. Reminds me of the music my parents would play for us when we were kiddos.

Back in the day, Christmas music was so much more fun and interesting. Nowadays I feel like all we get are the “diva” croonings of the latest R&B star slaughtering an old carol with vocal acrobatics. In the 50s, 60s, 70s people actually wrote new christmas songs and did innovative versions of old standards. There were also TONS of compilations featuring all the stars of the day. I especially loved the album artwork—take a look at just a few of these:

This next one has a rather worn and uninteresting-looking cover (bowl of apples by the roaring fire, anyone?) oh yo, but just you wait! Open this lovely LP up and see what’s inside……

A pop-up house! It’s so cute and adorable….

But on to the REAL reason behind today’s post. As most of you know I’m an obsessive thrifter and vintage lover….and as a result I have amassed a big collection of cheesy-but-delightful holiday records. Over the past years I have wanted to digitize my vinyl as a way to preserve it—and so I could share it with others. I’ve transformed a fair amount of my albums to MP3 and thanks to the help of my super cool friend Spencer (from the awesome SAP Music blog who has one of the best record collections around) I’ve managed to build a fun menagerie of retro MP3s. So I wanted to share with you some of my favorite vintage holiday tunes! So without further ado, presenting:

The ALIXMAS 2010 Retro Holiday Mix!
It’s all goofy cocktails-by-the-fire kinda music. Some highlights?

“Too Fat for the Chimney” — Gisele Mackenzie
“Santa Claus is Coming to Town” — Loretta Young
“A Christmas Song” — Shawn Phillips (sorta dixieland cowboy xmas)

And of course the groovy smooth sounds of David Cassidy
“Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”— The Partridge Family

It’s an eclectic mix and I played it non-stop last year. I’ll be putting together some more in the coming weeks. Feel free to link here and share the Christmas love!

{NOTE: MIX IS OFFICIALLY UNLOCKED FOR DECEMBER!}

DOWNLOAD ALIX CHRISTMAS MUSIC MIX HERE.