Christmastime at the Greco home means copious amounts of vino, necessary breaks from eating and very loud conversation. What to do for this buffaBLOG post? I thought to myself. Christmas is a time of tradition, so what would be more appropriate than a top ten of my favorite holiday oldies. What warms your heart more, than Black Velvet and Sambuca while cutting down the Christmas tree, than Sinatra? I hear Dean Martin through the stereo and I picture a dinner table, family, and a closeness that is like no other.

But, let's face it. Traditions change. A week before Christmas it was nearly 50 degrees, this year for Christmas Eve our family is having a Mexican themed celebration (my excitement is unmanageable and I am in the midst of creating the ultimate playlist), and people are no longer trucking through snow, throwing an occasional snow ball eventually finding the immaculate tree of perfection, rather they are stopping at local centers to buy them.

Many reach an odd sense of acceptance. Maybe these will become new and wonderful traditions. Yes, the mistletoe that we have had hanging no longer dangles in the doorway and the room of my youth is starting to transform into my mother's newfound walk-in closet, but there's a hip-hop influenced remix of "The Nutcracker Suite" playing from my speakers. Wonderful smells waft from the kitchen and a grooving remix of Kay Starr's "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm" has me bouncing, a Bass ale with a yuletide tree backdrop sits before me.


If you need an upbeat change of pace as you drive about from party to party, check out this Christmas Remixed album.