A Growing Christmas Music Library

I have acquired some new additions to my Christmas music library in 2016. It's a mix of stuff I have found at secondhand stores and others bought and shared online. Here are some of my finds:

- The Soulful Strings - The Magic of Christmas
- The King Family Christmas
- Jack Jones Christmas (1969)
- Paul Revere & The Raiders - A Christmas Present...and Past
- Jingle Bell Jazz
- Andy Williams & The Williams Brothers Christmas
- Barry Manilow - Because It's Christmas
- The Blenders - Ring the Christmas Bells
- The Avalanches - Ski Surfin'
- Lynn Anderson - The Christmas Album

And I am still adding selections to my library. Already in 2017 I have added:

The Torero Band - Tijuana Christmas (1968)
The Hollyridge Strings - Christmas Favorites (1965)
Rotary Connection - Peace (1968)

I am also still indulging in holiday music.

I am by no means any kind of a record collector. I may be a music collector but I'm not necessarily interested in having the physical media on which the music came from. I have purchased over 200 LPs over the last several years at thrift stores. The main purpose was to record them into mp3 files. I'd say 90% of these records I have no interest in keeping. They are by no means rare or anything out of the ordinary. But I have found some that I plan to keep and some I will try to sell others on ebay. Most will be in crates at a future garage sale.

So I came across some pretty good stuff for this year. I do keep an eye out for holiday records at the stores I go to. But it's not an obsession with me.

I would love to come across something so rare and so good-sounding that no one has ever heard before. Better yet, I would love to make something like that. Making your own recording is really the only way to guarantee that no one else has a copy or has even heard it before. Since I do make my own music that is a real possibility for me. And I have decided that I will spend 2017 making Christmas & seasonal music, both original tunes and standards.