Christmas Song Love

You know why iPods are great? Because you can listen to Christmas music all year long and not look like an idiot. Well, okay, there are better reasons, but I'd say that right there is a pretty darn good one.

I love Christmas music. It makes me happy. Whether it's traditional or funky, medieval or modern... I'll be smiling if I hear it.

My favorite classic carol is "The Carol of the Bells". It has a slightly creepy tune, which distinguishes it from its cheery counterparts, but its joyful lyrics make it holiday-spirit-ish.

Here's a playlist of some classics. You'll notice two versions of "Carol of the Bells"... I dare you to listen to them both. :)

But we are (at least I am) children of a new generation. Classic Christmas tunes can go only so far. Then we bring in the heavy artillery: extremely epic and modern songs for the Yuletide.
I was disappointed to be unable to find "Wish List" by Neon Trees to add to this playlist. It's a really awesome song, and it was free on iTunes last week. Now you can buy it here. It's worth the $1.29!

Dangerous things happen when you have a rather bored Olivia. Particularly a bored Olivia at Christmastime. And especially a bored Olivia at Christmastime listening to Like a G6 over and over.
The result? A late-night escapade into the land of mashups.
I was trying to find a good Christmas song to do vocals to over a karaoke track for Like a G6. And — whaddya know? —We Three Kings fits perfectly.
I had wayyyyy too much fun doing the vocals for this! I don't take credit for the track in the background, but the vocals and lovely artwork (did you catch that sarcasm?) are mine. {Well scratch that. The elements of the artwork are not mine, you can thank Google Images for those. But I stuck it all together.}


We're getting close... check back tomorrow for totally awesome handmade gift ideas!

The Very Best Christmas Cookies Ever

It's December, and you know what that means. That means holiday cookies.

My family has high expectations when it comes to cookies. So with every cookies recipe I try, I ask for reviews.

Well, these delicious Honey-Molasses Ginger Cookies were declared the best cookies in the entire world. not just by my family, either — I shared them with friends and they asked for the recipe, declaring that these cookies were the best they had ever tasted.

And now, dear friends, I share the recipe with you.

My entry for Guinivere's food photography challenge.

You will need:

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup honey
2 egg yolks
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:

ONE. Cream together the butter, sugar, molasses, and honey in a bowl with an electric mixer. Add the egg yolks and mix well.

TWO. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices; stir into the butter mixture. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill overnight.

THREE. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out shapes with your favorite cookie cutters; transfer to lightly greased baking sheets.

FOUR. Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake cookies for 8 to 10 minutes. (Do not overbake.) Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets until they are firm, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

My mother consumed an alarming amount of first raw cookie dough, then the finished (and still piping hot!) cookies. I told her that she needed to save some for my dad, and she got all Gollum-ish and protective over her cookie.

Of course, how can one make Christmas cookies without a Christmas playlist? See, the wonderful thing about an iPod is that you can play as much Christmas music as you like and nobody will get annoyed with you for getting the song stuck in their head. I'm giving you the choice whether or not to listen; be warned, these songs can and will get stuck in your head.

The Contented Soul

It's rare to have a complete and utter sense of content. In fact, in my opinion it's pretty much impossible. You could be the happiest person in the world, but you can never be completely content... your shoe might pinch your toe or you might step in dog poo while walking down the Yellow Brick Road.

So a completely contented soul is pretty hard to achieve. But I think that right now I'm pretty close.

I'm not euphoric. I'm not overly happy. I'm not excited or even anticipating some great event. But I'm content.

What is contentedness, anyway? The dictionary tells me the following:

content |kənˈtent|adjective
"in a state of peaceful happiness ; satisfied with a certain level of achievement, good fortune, etc., and not wishing for more"

That pretty much sums it up, I think. Right now, I'm totally psyched with life. Even though my foot is asleep and my family is having major crises all over the place*. Even though all that is happening, I have this odd sense of calm and happiness.

I'm pretty confused... but I'm not about to question it.

Is this what you feel like in Heaven?

I know this song's lyrics are pretty much the opposite of contentedness, but it has a soothing beat and melody. And it's stuck in my head. So listen up! (Don't worry, it's the clean version.)

*Please pray for my family. My dad has hurt his back badly and is home from work. My mom is in Florida playing nurse to my great-grandmother while her husband is having surgery in the hospital. My grandmother has been living with her boyfriend for several years, and he just proposed to her on Monday... but he's being treated for cancer at the moment and we don't know how bad it is yet.

PS: It is a few hours later and I am definitely *not* content right now! I added money into my iTunes account, and that was fine, but now when I try to purchase a song, it says "We could not complete your iTunes store request. The requested resource was not found. There is an error with the iTunes store. Please try again later."
Ack! Is anyone else having this problem? Does anyone know how to fix it?
Help! I need my music!

Confident

Do you ever need a little push forward when there's something you need to do? Perhaps it's writing an essay. Maybe you're working up the guts to ask out the guy or gal you've liked since seventh grade. Possibly you have a huge speech or presentation. Or (and this is me most of the time) you are chasing after the feeling that java has been shot through your veins... without the caffeine high.

For me, music can provide this "high".

Confession time: I am a total playlist junkie. I switch them up all the time. The "On-The-Go" feature of my little green iPod is my new best friend. I relish my impending iTouch (thank you, thank you, thank you KeyBank! {Google it.}) partially because it's so much easier to access playlists.

Recently, I've been organizing my music into what I fondly call Moodlists. I have, at current point (in addition to "Writing Music" and "Music for Sweat and Blood, aka Heavy Labor", the latter reserved for such strenuous tasks such as lawn mowing, room cleaning, and frenetic workout/dancing/amazingness) five, a record low for me. They are thus: Sadness (when I feel melancholy), Sweetness (when I need a little nudge in the romantic direction), Happiness (mostly Owl City, makes me smily maniacally and people ask if I feel quite alright), Sleepiness (mostly Enya... when I have trouble falling asleep I plug this in), and my personal favorite, Confidence.

My confidence playlist helps me out in all the previously listed situations, in addition to more extreme scenarios including crocodile wrestling, the first day of high school, and feeding my cat. It has all the smiley-ness of the "Happiness" playlist, but is more fast-paced with uplifting-slash-rebellious melodies and lyrics that give me that aforementioned boost.

Basically, it's coffee in music form. Me being a total coffee junkie in addition to a playlist junkie, this is completely the best of both worlds.

Here is a shortened version of my Confidence playlist. Enjoy... and be sure to share your own playlists!

(PS... listening to the above playlist has made me have an odd sort of humor at the moment. Forgive me if this post is dreadfully confusing.)

(PPS: You'll notice I got rid of my background music... I figured that Carlotta was right, and a lot of blogs with music at the same time are annoying. They certainly are to me! Don't worry, though... now, many posts will have playlists of their own.)