Due to my computer problems earlier this year, I lost a bit of my digital music collection including my Christmas music. So I have been trying to find stuff on iTunes and Napster to hold me over until I get home again. Here are some of my favorites.

A Charlie Brown Christmas – This is my favorite Christmas album of all time, so I have been listening to it quite a bit. The jazzy sounds of Vince Guaraldi convey the spirit of Christmas well, especially from the melancholy perspective of Charlie Brown. This year they released an anniversary album called 40 Years featuring contemporary musicians. I haven’t listened to it all the way through, but there are some interesting tracks on it. Doesn’t quite match the original though.

I discover a lot of music through movies, so I looked up the soundtracks of some recent Christmas movies as well. The soundtrack to Home Alone is really great, featuring new and traditional holiday music from legendary composer John Williams. On the other end of the spectrum is the recent hit Elf, which uses a lot of older Christmas songs in its soundtrack

Christmas Eve and Other Stories by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. There are some original songs, but the real highlight is their remixing of classical pieces, including “Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24”.

Finally if you don’t celebrate Christmas or like holiday music, I have The Alternative Classical Chillout Album. This was on sale on iTunes when I stumbled upon it so I bought it and I am really happy. It’s the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra playing pop alternative rock songs which are pretty good.

Alright that’s all for now. I know my list is pretty small so feel free to leave comments with your favorites. Merry Christmas to all.