Since this is the first Christmas holiday season I’ve spent in the Blues Roadhouse, I feel like I need to keep alive a musical holiday tradition that I began years ago with the BlueNotes blog.
So that means I get to share my favorite Christmas song, the YouTube version, which features special animation just for this occasion.
And I also get to offer some holiday libation advice.
I always recommend leaving a little something out for Santa. I find that milk and cookies do little to lift the holiday spirits, so I heartily recommend some bourbon and brownies. And I also recommend not leaving much of them for Santa, if he ever does show up. I’m still waiting.
But maybe you’re a beer person. In that case, I recommend one of the many beers produced specifically with the Christmas season in mind. And since I’m kind of a beer snob, that means a Belgian ale, where they take some of the world’s best beers and offer special holiday versions.
Since one of my favorite Belgians is the darkly delicious St. Bernardus Abt 12, this year I made the brewery’s Christmas Ale my holiday choice. It’s slightly more sprightly than the Abt 12, but still with enough warmth and cheer to accompany some fine Christmas blues.
None of this, of course, means that you are somehow obligated to celebrate the actual Christmas. Enjoy whatever holiday, or day, that you like — enjoy being the key word.
So, a very merry, happy, peaceful version of whatever you want to celebrate.
And here is my favorite Christmas song, “White Christmas,” by the great Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters.
Blues Roadhouse 