The best Christmas music ever

Let me make an observation and offer up an opinion--the Vince Guaraldi soundtrack for A Charlie Brown Christmas is the best Christmas music...ever.

I make that observation because I find that most everyone reacts positively when hearing one of Guaraldi's songs from that soundtrack. And, I think the positive reaction stems from the ability of the listener to immediately link the song with the right scene from the show, and the good feelings generated by that 1965 classic.

Maybe it's the visual of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree, and how that descriptor has become a part of our vernacular for trees which aren't quite to the lush standard that we aspire to; or maybe it's the visual of the children singing "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," with comically open mouths, at the end of this Christmas show. Or, maybe it's simply because Guaraldi's music for this show is just good and right on for the context of Charles Schulz's classic.

Whatever the reason, Guaraldi's music engenders nostalgia, hope, wonder and a smile. It's withstood the test of these 46 years and always seems to hit just the right chord, each year, as we seek to keep the true meaning of Christmas in Christmas.

A Charlie Brown Christmas track listing:
1. O Tannenbaum
2. What Child Is This?
3. My Little Drum
4. Linus and Lucy
5. Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental)
6. Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal)
7. Skating
8. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
9. Christmas Is Coming
10. Fur Elise
11. The Christmas Song