It’s beginning to sound a lot like Christmas

The third grade at Margaret's school had two Christmas performances in the last week. The first one was at Chipeta Elementary and was a story of Santa picking out his Christmas tree. The majority of the third-grade students donned homemade Christmas tree costumes — while a couple kids had special parts as Santa, Mrs. Claus and elves. Oh man, were those Christmas tree costumes cute. The parents and kids were really creative. I was blown away by all the cuteness on stage that night. As I wrote before, Margaret was to be a Christmas tree and my mom rocked out a super cute tree. The week of the performance, the girl playing Mrs. Claus became sick and was not able to attend. Margaret was selected to play Mrs. Claus. She was thrilled to have a special part. She made an absolutely adorable Mrs. Claus and did a great job pinch hitting at the last minute. (Our Christmas tree costume was worn by another student, so all my mom's hard work was not in vain.) The kids sang their Christmas songs with enthusiasm and the program was nicely put together. The music teacher for Chipeta Elementary, Mrs. Leslie, is a very creative and the kids really seem to enjoy the programs. Being a big fan of music, I am very thankful for Mrs. Leslie. Last night, each grade of students from Chipeta performed Christmas music at Barnes and Noble as part of a fund raiser raising money to buy Christmas gifts for children in the hospital. Even though it was way beyond crowded and I almost suffered an anxiety attack standing packed into the children's section (I survived because I was taller than most of the people around me so I got to breathe the good air — sometimes being tall has it's advantages), I loved seeing the kids belt out their Christmas tunes. These performances coupled with the fact that Margaret has been playing Christmas music on the piano for a month now, I've got Christmas songs flooding my brain ... and I love it. I need to compile a list of Christmas songs for my iPod. What are your favorite Christmas songs?