Making Christmas Merry With Music

Disclaimer: The advice given herein was not checked by a lawyer. It was not checked with the copyright office. This tip is intended solely for the entertainment of you and your Christmas guests – not for anyone to make a profit. OK? I am not a wastrel. Are we straight?

As more Christmases pass, there are fewer people attending my annual Christmas eve festivities.I’ve gotten older. Really older. Time takes away the things you love: parents die, siblings die. friends die: life unfortunately is not eternal – at least not here upon the planet we call Earth. So, Christmas this year will not be like Christmas twenty years ago. My parents were here, my sister and brother in law were here, my business partner at the time was here, his girlfriend was here – all of them are now gone.  But life goes one, Obladi Oblada life goes on. Now both of my sons are grown and have families of their own. I have 2 wonderful grand kids, and one on the way.  So while we’ve lost many, we’ve gained many, and life goes on. Someday I’ll be gone and my kids and grand kids and will carry on. Life is a circle, just like the seasons. So the loss by attrition is compensated by new arrivals. Well, not quite but somewhat.

I digress.

I’ve fallen behind on some of the new gadgets out there. I just discovered Bluetooth wireless speakers. Yes I know, they’ve been around a long time I must admit, I once was a huge music fan, but I’ve kind of lost interest in music – since the day the music died (when John Lennon was killed). But it’s Christmas and I still like Christmas music. Every year we’ve turned on the Yule Log on TV and listened to whatever the Yule Log station decided to serve up. Maybe that’s why we listened to Peggy Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” five hundred times in one night. I exaggerate.

This year I decided to buy some nice Bluetooth speakers, even though I’ll probably only use them once a year (unless I want to scare the neighbors with elephant bellows on some soft summer night). But alas I had not one Christmas song on my computer — save for the old midis we used to use on our stationery (a really good one is hear — that’s a pun – get it?).  What’s a person do? I have computers; I have Bluetooth speakers, but I don’t want to have to go out and buy 10 Christmas albums just to find my favorite Christmas songs.

Yesterday, I had the idea of watching YouTube videos of Christmas songs (you know like James Taylor singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” or the aforementioned John Lennon’s “So This is Christmas”. How about Mannheim Steam Roller or  Trans Siberian Orchestra – they both have great Christmas congeries.

I have Bluetooth speakers not Bluetooth LED monitors. so all I needed was the music, sans video. In one hour, had a collection of  20+ songs, which later, after listening, pared it down to 18 great songs and I might get more today as I think of them.

So how’d I do it? Easy. Type in the name of a Christmas song (I used Google) then when the search results appear, click “Videos” at the top, see?

See? In this case the video and link came up right away, but what if if it hadn’t? Just click on Videos and you’ll see all the videos there are of a particular song. Anyway, I choose the version/video I want to covert to an MP3 music file, and copy the URL of the YouTube page. Then I head to http://www.youtube-mp3.org/ and paste the URL (web address) into the form on the site.

See. I just paste the URL into the form (as aboved) and click “Covert Video”.

In less than a minute, the video is stripped from the audio and the audio is available to download as an MP3. So all you get is what you want – the Christmas music.

Then I just add it to my growing play list of Christmas music…

I then added it to my music playlist and dragged it to the spot in the list where I wanted it. (I used Widnows Media Player to create this list, but you can use your favorite music player.) Now I’m off to find more music. And this Christmas Eve, I will be in control of the music, no “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” five hundred times for me, sorry Peggy Lee. Just for you I might play it once or twice, Peggy.

Now go forth and build your own playlist of your favorite Christmas songs. I’m off to have a Christmas Bowl. (NO EB! I’m not going bowling – don’t you know what a Christmas Bowl is?).

“A merry Christmas, Bob!” said Scrooge, with an earnestness that could not be mistaken, as he clapped him on the back. “A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow, than I have given you, for many a year! I’ll raise your salary, and endeavor to assist your struggling family, and we will discuss your affairs this very afternoon, over a Christmas bowl of smoking bishop, Bob!” (“A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens)