By The Toy Story Fanatic Devo
Christmas is a big deal to me. It was the day I got my first Woody and Buzz action figures, the day I got my first Video Game (coincidentally also Toy Story) and every year since it’s been a fun day filled with tradition, religious festivities, presents, fun crafts and big beautiful bread bowls of bacon and corn chowder (yum).
A fun way to celebrate the season is with the music specific to this time of year. Here are the top 5 Disney Christmas songs that everyone should add to their playlist.
Rules- no songs built specifically to be annoying. Jingle bells, 12 Days of Christmas, those kinds of songs. No one really likes them. We just say we do. The other rule is I’m going to try to keep these songs one-per-album and no repeating franchises.
Christmas Is Starting Now- Phineas and Ferb
The music in Phineas and Ferb is consistently good and their Christmas album is a great example of that. this song in particular features the talents of the popular Jazz group Big Bad VooDoo Daddy who is another example of consistently good music talents. If you want a song that exemplifies the fun-times spirit of the season, this song needs to be on your playlist.
Hey Santa- Disney Christmas Collection Vol 2
This is an interesting pick. Back in the day, Disney produced Christmas music just to produce Christmas music with no strings or franchises attached. I’d argue this is the best of that set. All of us have written a letter to Santa and this is that song. A young boy sings his Christmas list to Santa and in the process, tries to give as much as he can as well. It’s a fun story, a fun song, and it’s extremely singable. The Album itself holds a lot of gems and though it’s somewhat rare now, it’s definitely worth searching the internet for it.
As Long as There’s Christmas- Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas
Beauty and the Beast is a big deal. I haven’t met anyone who really dislikes it and, apparently, Disney couldn’t either so we got a few sequels to it. One of these is ‘The Enchanted Christmas’ which showed Belle’s first Christmas at the castle, assuming during the “There’s Something There That Wasn’t There Before” montage. This song does a great job at covering the Christmas spirit from the reflective to the joyous pieces. Plus, as far as direct-to-video sequels go, this is a pretty good movie.
Oh What A Merry Christmas Day- Mickey’s Christmas Carol
This was the earliest Christmas movie I remember watching as a kid. There weren’t a whole lot of songs in the movie, but the beginning interlude before the cartoon starts establishes very quickly an old-style kind of Christmas feel that succeeds in placing you right in the Victorian era of Christmas (I can’t think of too many landscapes that really encapsulate Christmas as well as the Victorian Era for some reason. Why is that? [trails off into deep thought on cultural influence in relation to the Christmas aesthetic…]).
When Love Is Found- The Muppets Christmas Carol
Granted this song is the second part of the brilliant and tear-jerking “When Love Was Gone” from earlier in the film, but this is the more positive happy version. It also brings me to tears every time. Christmas is a time when peace on earth seems possible and those distant feel a bit more close. We find love and when that happens we are never quite alone ever again.
What are your favorite Christmas songs? Lets talk about it in the comments! Be sure to follow us on the socials so you don’t ever miss anything and remember to keep wishing on stars. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you.