Kelly Clarkson: “Wrapped In Red”

Kelly Clarkson has been all over the radio and talk show circuit this season — she was even the guest DJ on one of the all-Christmas music stations on Sirius/XMRadio last week! — but, if you’ve heard her new Christmas album, “Wrapped in Red”, you know that the girl has every reason to be proud of it. Loud, fun, sweet and beautifully-produced, Clarkson has called “Red” her favorite album she’s ever done, and I’m tempted to agree with her.

Every song on “Red” — which features a very cool mix of holiday classics and new material mostly written or co-written by Clarkson herself — is infused with Clarkson’s genuine love of Christmas music and the album has songs for every kind of holiday music fan. Clarkson’s rendition of “Silent Night” (sung with Reba and Trisha Yearwood) is just plain beautiful and her recording of “My Favorite Things”, whether intentionally or not, proves that there is only one true American Idol this holiday season. Sorry, Carrie.

But, of course the real gems are the raft of new songs Clarkson wrote for the album. “Underneath the Tree” is already an instant classic (not to mention Greta’s favorite new song to sing!) but the title track and the songs “4 Carats” and “Winter Dreams (Brandon’s Song)” are sure to be around for a while as well. We have over 75 Christmas albums in our collection and, trust me, it’s rare that you find one from a major pop star that feels so artfully-crafted and produced. Seriously, Clarkson knows her Christmas music, yo.

So, if you tired of the glut of mass-produced lump of coal Christmas albums that usually bubble to the surface this time of year, check out “Wrapped in Red” instead. And if you get a chance to catch her NBC Christmas Special in reruns or video on demand, watch that too, it’s freaking hilarious!

“Christmas Wishes” on KOST (2013)

Not sure if you guys remember this or not, but, every year around Christmas time we get loads of comments on our sister blog about a post I wrote five years ago (!) about KOST 103.5’s “Christmas Wishes” program. Most of the people commenting seem to think that our blog is somehow connected to KOST and ask for all sorts of crazy things for Christmas.

It’s actually kind of sad sometimes, especially the people who write about losing spouses and stuff…yikes…if it’s true, my heart goes out to them. But on the other hand, part of me wonders what the hell they are thinking coming to our blog for “Christmas Wishes.” I mean, if they took the time to actually read the original blog post they’d see I was writing about how much we love listening to the “Christmas Wishes” on the radio, not granting them! Urgh…

Thankfully, we haven’t gotten nearly as many comments this year as we did in year’s past — I only say thankfully because they do kind of make me feel guilty sometimes, like it’s the universe’s way of asking me to play Santa or something — but, the one’s we did get are pretty good, so, I’m going to repost them below. And if I had my wish this Christmas, I would bring both of these poor saps a couple of commas and maybe a period or two for Christmas, because, as you can see, they could really use them. Merry Christmas, everyone!

RIP Nelson Mandela

Was listening to wall-to-wall Christmas music just now on KOST when the DJ came on to say that Nelson Mandela has died at the age of 95. And then, she played the song featured in the video below. No words…so sad. RIP Mr. Mandela.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Michael Bublé Christmas Special airs tonight! (via make.see.eat.do)

Spent the weekend putting up the tree, decorating the house and trying to explain to Greta why we don’t wear our Christmas stockings on our actual feet. She calls them “socks” and, well, why shouldn’t she? Explaining the whole thing to her last night, Mrs. Yeti and I kept looking at one another, like: “Wow, this is kind of a weird tradition…no wonder she’s confused!”

Anyway, Greta and I are still putting the final touches on Christmas-izing our merry little household, so, you’ll have to forgive me if I cut corners a bit and post something from our sister blog here today. I know it’s totally cheating, but, I promise to dazzle you with some exclusive content real soon. So, for now, Merry Christmas and enjoy the link!

Michael Bublé Christmas Special airs tonight!.