A Christmas Album in the Future?

I really love Christmas music and these last 2 holiday seasons where I have come up with a couple of original Christmas songs has led me to seriously consider making a whole album of original Christmas tunes. Sure, the classics and traditional songs are wonderful but there is always more that can be said. There are always new perspectives and different ways of saying some of the old expressions. Certainly "deck the halls with boughs of holly" can be updated to reflect our modern methods of decorating and making merry.

Some writers like mixing the subject of Christmas with romance. And some of those songs are very good and memorable--Merry Christmas Darling, All I Want for Christmas is You, Merry Christmas Baby, etc. Many songs have nothing to do with romance and instead focus on the aspects of Christmas or the season itself. Some are religious in nature. Some are just plain silly. Others are serious. Some are upbeat and festive. Some are low-key and reflective. Others are downright depressing.

As a writer, I prefer the non-romantic, upbeat and low-key, reflective compositions. The two songs I made I consider to be mid-tempo numbers that are somewhat reflective in nature. I think this is the best formula that works for me. That's not to say that I will never experiment with some of the other categories. I don't intend to produce an album of 10 or 12 sound alike songs. In fact, the 2 songs I have already recorded are quite different musically from each other. "It's Christmas" is an all-acoustic and guitar driven song with verses and a bridge and a guitar solo. It would probably be categorized as folk-pop. "Christmastime" on the other hand is not all acoustic and not at all guitar driven. It's more of a piano driven song and would probably classify as pure pop. Verses and chorus. No solos. Both songs do time in at about 3.5 minutes, though. That's something that I can trim down, as some of the moved loved Christmas recordings are 3 minutes long or less.

If I intend to make a Christmas album in time for Christmas 2015 I would probably have to spend much of next year writing and recording. Could I do it? I'm sure I have the ability but the motivation to work on Christmas music during the spring and summer might just not be there. Even now that Christmas is so close I've already lost some drive to try to come up with new holiday music. It's challenging to want to work on something that after tomorrow no one will want to hear until 12 months later. I keep listening to Christmas music sometimes into March but I know most people do not share that kind of passion for it. I continue to listen throughout the winter. Why not? After all, many of those songs are just about the snowy season anyway.

I might however still work on making a cover of "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" for now. An instrumental. I may make a medley of it and "We Three Kings" just to keep it from being too short and repetitive.