paper crowns

merry christmas!

...a little late. And Happy Holidays! I didn't send out cards this year (or ever, welp), so this post can be a card of sorts! Hope your day was filled with plenty of great food, (spiked) egg nog and wonderful company. Now let's try not to think about the fact that we have to wait a whole year to do it all again.

top five: christmas songs.

I started my top five feature a little while back with my top five Bob Dylan songs. Now that we're in the thick of the holiday season and I'm able to listen to Christmas music without shame (I held out until after Thanksgiving, which was a feat!), what better choice for the next installment of top five than Christmas songs! 

I'm absolutely a lover of Christmas music and this list was quite a bit easier to put together than I thought it would be, with my top three being a no-brainer.

Without further ado, in descending order!

#5: All I Want For Christmas Is You
artist: Mariah Carey
year: 1994
listen here.

I love Mariah. "Daydream" was the second CD I ever bought and one of very few of those early purchases to actually survive the '90s (sorry, Ace of Base, Aqua, etc.). But whether or not you're a fan too, it can't be denied that "All I Want for Christmas Is You" is a once-in-a-generation song. It is a serious feat to write a modern-day Christmas song that instantly becomes a bona fide classic just as much as any song that came before it. No one else has done it in the last 50 years, and I truly doubt that anyone's going to do it in the next 50. So good! So joyous! And everyone loves it. Everyone!

#4: Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
year written: 1943
favorite version: Frank Sinatra
listen here.

There's a whole crop of these mid-20th-century Christmas songs. Some of them are blah (ahem, "Here Comes Santa Claus") and some are great ("The Christmas Song," "White Christmas"), but none of them tops this one. I don't even have a whole lot to say about it, actually. It's joyful, warm and nostalgic. The cornerstones of a good, solid Christmas song. 

#3: O Holy Night
year written: 1847
favorite version: Celine Dion's (I know, I know) is undeniably flawless. 
listen here. 

It's a masterpiece that no other Christmas song will ever touch. It's to Christmas songs what Les Misérables is to musicals. It has everything! Killer melody! Slow build! Dramatic climax! Suspense! (will the singer go for the super high "divine"/"noel" or will they cop out and drop it an octave?) It's perfection, and the best Christmas song ever written. 

#2: Fairytale Of New York
artist: The Pogues
year written: 1987
listen here. 

The charm of almost all modern Christmas songs is in how they evoke a warm, nostalgic, I'll-be-home-for-Christmas sense of the holidays that's engineered to simply make you feel good. And that's fine, and something that certainly has its place, but it also rings a little false, or at least flat. It's tame, inoffensive; it makes you feel cheery and pleasant, but that's where it ends.

"Fairytale of New York" is different. It's so raw and so real—almost too real—and it just hits you in an actual emotional place that no other Christmas song even strives for. It makes you feel, and feel deeply. And the funny thing is, yes, it's dark and troubling. But because of that live wire of real, raw emotion running through it, the song actually evokes the spirit of Christmas for me more so than any song that artificially attempts to conjure it up using a sanitized, safe approach. And the final verse is just one of the most beautiful stanzas that's ever been written, Christmas song or not:

I could have been someone

Well, so could anyone

You took my dreams from me
When I first found you

I kept them with me, babe
I put them with my own
Can't make it all alone
I built my dreams around you

It's bitter and it's hopeful, and it's sad and it's romantic, and it's screwed up and it's human. It's just real. That's what makes it such a great Christmas song.

#1: Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming
year written: late 16th century
favorite version: Sufjan Stevens. Feist does a beautiful rendition as well. 
listen to Sufjan's version here. Feist's version here. 

I do stand by "O Holy Night" being objectively the best Christmas song ever, but this is my favorite. It was written in the 1500s, but my favorite versions of it were recorded in the last decade. It's just this stunning, haunting melody that transcends genre and time. It's a beautiful, wistful work of art that evokes a feeling of warmth in the dead of winter. The other songs on this list, I've known all my life. I heard this one for the first time only a few years ago, but I immediately felt like I'd known it forever. Forget Christmas, it's one of the prettiest things you'll ever hear.

Tell me your favorites! Traditional songs? Obscure songs? Songs that aren't really "Christmas" in theme but still resonate with you during the holidays? I would love to hear!

Oh, and I've announced the winner of the Lex & Lynne giveaway over here. :)

images sources: one - mine // two // three // four // five //

christmas tree festivities.

Our tree is up!

I live for all things Christmas and this is the first December in a long time that I've been in the same place two years in a row. That means that I actually had all my Christmas tree gear on hand and didn't have to brave the Black Friday masses by running out to buy hooks or extension cords or whatever! Kyle and I both grew up with real trees, but since we'll often be up in Canada visiting my family over the holidays, we figured last year that faux was the way to go. I love ours! We even bought these fir-scented sticks that you hang inside the branches and it makes it smell like the real thing! We hung an absurd, over-the-top amount on there last year and I feel sorry for any of our friends who entered the haze. I know it smelled like we were living in a tree.

I've collected a few of my ornaments here and there over the past couple of years, but most were acquired in a frenzy last December. I wish I'd thought to collect ornaments on my travels in Korea and beyond. I didn't buy any while living there because most things that expats buy in Korea never make it home. I think that's why I went so crazy with the ornaments and the tree and various decorations last year. I realized that after three years of living the buying/reselling/buying/reselling expat life, I could actually acquire things for my home that I planned to keep and carry with me. My own stuff! Ornaments for my tree that I take out year after year! I'm a huge sucker for holiday traditions and, as a kid, unpacking the boxes of Christmas decorations was the big annual thrill. It's this warm, nostalgic, comforting feeling that returns every December and never gets old. Getting to unpack a few ornament boxes of my own this year was the perfect way to kick off the season.

I'd love to make a new tree topper, a few homemade ornaments and perhaps a garland or two. Hoping to find time over the next few weeks! I made this ruffle tree skirt last year and it was... rigorous. It turned out great! But I was DIY'ed out for the rest of the holidays after taking that project on.

Oh! I wanted to take a minute to mention the pretty necklaces that I'm wearing in this post. They are handmade by Rachel of the Etsy shop Kokoro Kara, and she was kind enough to send me a couple as a gift. You can see the necklaces I'm wearing here and here. I love the colorblocking and pops of gold (made out of beautiful vintage brass beads!) and they've become a staple to my wardrobe over the past few weeks. If you'd like to purchase any of her lovely pieces for yourself or as a holiday gift, Rachel is kindly offering a 15% off discount code on your entire purchase! (just enter the code PAPERCROWNS at checkout.) She donates a portion of every sale to the World Wildlife Fund. A really wonderful thing indeed. 

Is anyone else in the holiday spirit yet? Have you amassed any sort of decoration collection that you love to pull out every year? Oh, and if you need a little help keeping up with the Christmas countdown, you might want to check out this Twitter feed ;)