Creating your own Christmas music playlist at home

METRO DETROIT — Anyone who enjoys Christmas music probably has a favorite yuletide CD or two to play when decking the halls during the holiday season.

Maybe you’re a diehard fan of Vince Guaraldi Trio’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” prefer the classic sounds of Perry Como or rock out to Twisted Sister’s “A Twisted Christmas” while decorating the tree, wrapping presents or baking cookies.

Cranking the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Josh Groban, Willie Nelson or Michael Bublé while enjoying a glass of eggnog under the twinkling lights at home might be your thing. Religious music is another way to celebrate a “Silent Night.” Holiday selections from many artists can fill a Christmas stocking all season long.

For St. Clair Shores resident Vito Lafata, his Christmas music collection is so extensive that he starts listening to it in October. Over the years, he purchased many holiday vinyl albums and CDs during weekly shopping trips to the now-closed Record Time store in Roseville. Lafata has “at least” 100 seasonal records and about 150 CDs with which to rock around the Christmas tree.

“My two favorite things are Christmas music and Beatles music,” said the local musician, who even recorded his own Christmas album several years back called “Eclectic Christmas Guitar.”

His collection includes Harry Connick Jr.’s “When My Heart Finds Christmas,” “Christmas with the Everly Brothers and the Boystown Choir,” The Brian Setzer Orchestra’s “Boogie Woogie Christmas” and Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song.”

“I start with Phil Keaggy. I play that first every year,” Lafata, 64, said. “He’s my favorite guitar player. He does everything.”

Another treasure is “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.” The vinyl record dates back decades with various artists including Frank Sinatra, Keely Smith, Sammy Davis Jr. and Rosemary Clooney.

“They were huge stars when the album came out,” Lafata said.

He remembers listening to the album as a kid on his parents’ Curtis Mathes stereo that had a television attached. It “was like one big, giant piece of furniture.”

“With that album, I was mesmerized,” Lafata remembered. “It takes me back to when I was 6, when my sister used to try to do this fancy ballet to ‘Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.’ It conjures up memories.”

Sometimes his dad, Vito Lafata Sr., sang along.

“My dad sounded exactly like Frank Sinatra,” Lafata said. “He used to sing ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.’ You could not tell the difference between him and Frank.”

“Happy Xmas,” by Eric Clapton, released in 2018, is another title on Lafata’s playlist.

“It is so good,” Lafata said. “I used to like the more bare bones, acoustic. Those were my favorites when I was first collecting. As time goes on, I started getting into the more electric music.”

When it comes to seasonal music, Ken Giorlando favors an old-fashioned Christmas mood with songs that take him back in time hundreds of years. He also appreciates modern-day songs such as “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” and “Jingle Bells.”

“I play a mixture of it all,” Giorlando said. “You’ll hear everything.”

He generally starts listening to his holiday collection in mid-November.

“This is the one I’ve been listening to the most,” the Eastpointe resident said while holding up Craig Duncan’s “A Colonial Christmas,” which features just enough fiddle, hammered dulcimer, guitar, mandolin and accordion music. “It’s all instrumental. It’s just a fun CD.”

“Wassail! A Country Christmas,” by the English folk group Magpie Lane, is another choice.

“They sound like they are in a pub in England and they’re singing and playing their instruments,” said Giorlando, 61, a paraprofessional at Warren Woods Tower High School in Warren.

If dancing the Christmas two-step, you’ll find some country artists in Giorlando’s collection, including Patty Loveless, Suzy Bogguss, Emmylou Harris, the Judds and Barbara Mandrell.

“In other parts of my collection, I have doo-wop and ’60s rock ‘n’ roll,” said Giorlando, who, like Lafata, is a Beatles fan. “I have ‘White Christmas’ by the Drifters. (The movie) ‘Home Alone’ made that very popular.”

Giorlando’s passion for Christmas music started as a child. His mom, Marcella, was his biggest influence.

“The moment Thanksgiving hit, she’s the one that brought out what we have now as traditional music. …  Rosemary Clooney, Mitch Miller, that all came from her,”  Giorlando said. “We had an old console. It would hold six 33 1/3 records.

“It got me in the Christmas spirit,” Giorlando recalled, adding that there was a Ray Conniff album that stood out. “It was just upbeat, happy.”

He has passed on his love for Christmas music to his four children and four grandchildren. Every year, the music plays in the background while family members decorate the Christmas tree, always picked out and cut down together.

“To them, the old-world Christmas music is as much Christmas music as Mariah Carey and the Carpenters,” he said.