Even more about this blog...
January 1, 2026
When I started collecting Christmas music, I had no idea that my collection would grow to the point it has. Sure, in the beginning I thought to myself, “I want all the Christmas music I could find by the Pop Standard artists that I came to love; Rosemary Clooney, Perry Como, Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis, etc.”. These are the artists that were known for their Christmas music. Doris Day, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin are some others. At that time, around 1996, I was buying my Christmas music through mail order catalogs. Good deals could be found if you studied the catalogs. My collection grew quickly. I remember I bought over 50 in my first year. And then about 100 every year after that for about 5 years. Due to financial hardships, I had to stop collecting for about 12 years. But I’ve been back at it for the last 5 years. Most of the catalog companies that I used to buy from have ceased existence due to online sites such as Amazon.com, eBay.com and Discogs.com.
It’s true, in 2020, I only had around 550 Christmas CDs and LPs and most of those I’d had for 15+ years. I hadn’t added anything to my collection for about 12 years.
Now, I’m a little more financially stable and I can get back to collecting. Back when I had to stop buying Christmas music, I had already decided that collecting Christmas music was my passion. It was something I had to do. I loved it and it gave me great pleasure. I LOVE CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!
It was around 10 years ago that I was looking for a way to show off my large collection of Christmas music. I wanted a place where I could upload photos of the CD covers and brag a little about how big it was. I didn’t know how to do that. I remember one year at Christmas asking my nieces and nephews if they knew of any place online where I could do that. A few mentioned My Space and Pinterest, but those sites don’t allow you to post copywritten pictures, and the CD covers are copywritten pictures.
About 3 years ago, in 2022, it came to me that I could start a blog about my collection, and I would write a review of my personal thoughts about every Christmas CD I had. Trust me, I have something to say about every Christmas CD I have. 😊 I also got back to buying Christmas music, and my collection grew rapidly.
I started this blog so I can show off my enormous collection of Christmas music. I had a vision of what I wanted the blog to look like, and for the most part I have achieved that, although I am aware of a few problems that need to be addressed.
In the beginning, I thought I could write a review in about a half hour, and I could write 3 or 4 each day during the week, and 12 or 15 each day of the weekend. But I quickly realized that it would take a lot longer than half an hour to write each review. After selecting a CD to review, I spend a little time reading the artist’s Wikipedia page so I can include a little biography of the artist so people who may not be familiar with them can understand a little more about them.
I didn’t start off thinking I would write a little about every song on the CD, and most only have 10 – 15 songs on them. I found it hard to write my thoughts about the CD without mentioning the individual songs that make the CD so great, or so lousy. So the reviews are much longer that I had originally planned, and they take a lot longer to write than originally planned. And with proofreading and edits, it takes 5 to 6 hours to write a review.
I already have a full-time job during the week, and it’s hard to dedicate any meaningful time to writing reviews during the week. And creating the blog itself took a long time. I’m not a web developer, and basic computer stuff doesn’t come easily for me. It has taken a long time to build the website as I saw it, and it’s still in the initial stages. There will probably be small changes in the future as I discover new things to add or ways to address the problem issues I see in it currently.
When I first started the blog, I was looking down the road as something to do after I retire, but that still won’t be for another 5 years at least. At that time, I should have more time to dedicate to writing reviews. Initially, the idea was to post a new review every day. I thought I could write 10 or 11 a day, post one a day, and build up a backlog of written reviews so that I would still have time to work on the blog and address comments, etc. Because the reviews are taking longer to write that I initially thought, I’m not sure if I will be able to post one a day. I wrote about 160 reviews before I started developing the website.
Currently, I have posted 100 reviews, and I have another 60 ready to go. When I get a few issues with the website straightened out, I will post those reviews at that time.
When I started a review, I listed the date as the date I was writing it. And I am going to post them in the order they were written. So the date they will carry will be the date they were originally written. That’s why, after they are posted, the dates will be years old. Currently, the dates that are on the reviews are not the dates they were posted to the blog. I didn’t go live with the blog until January 1st of 2025. After I have posted all the reviews I have backlogged, the dates on the newer reviews should be more current.
Parts of the blog include the Home Page. That’s the page that you see when you first go to the website. The Home Page contains a little excerpt from the most recent reviews. Also, below the reviews is an About link to take you to a page that tells you a little about me and a little about this blog.
Also, on the Home Page is a link to the Contact page, a page designed to allow you to email me if you’d like.
Along the top of the Home Page are links to a Misc. Post page that includes other comments I have about Christmas music, other than reviews of CDs or LPs. It is on the Misc. Post page that you will find detailed explanations of how I catalog music, general thoughts and ideas I have about particular songs, and explanations of some of the terms I use throughout this blog. Not much is posted there yet, but in the future, you can expect to find an eclectic collection of information.
There is also a link tab to the Reviews page where you will find all the reviews that have been posted so far.
The List tab takes you to a list of specialty collections of Christmas music that exist in my collection. It is a way to highlight CDs and LPs that fit into a particular niche, mostly by certain artists, groups, styles of Christmas music or retailers that released Christmas music. I am proud of the Lists page and it has a lot of unique entries in it if you take the time to look at it closely.
There is also a Categories page that takes you to the place where all the posted reviews of that particular genre of Christmas music can be found.
There are also tabs that take you directly to the About page and the Contact page.
My intention for the blog is mainly to have a place where I can show my enormous collection of Christmas music. I’m not trying to ‘sell’ any of the CDs or LPs in my collection, but through the extensive reviews and the star ratings I give them, it is a good place to find Christmas music for you to add to your collection. The blog is not primarily intended to educate you about Christmas music or particular artists, although the blog does serve that function.
This blog’s main purpose is to entertain and provide my personal insights about the Christmas music I have in my collection. 😊