Music Review

If you hear some new holiday tunes blasting from Santa’s sleigh as he hits your rooftop this Christmas Eve, you have someone to thank. Christmas with Mrs. Claus is a magical holiday music collaboration between Mrs. Claus and Grammy® Nominated family music artist Judy Pancoast. This is truly a match made at the North Pole.

Mrs. Claus steps out from the shadow of the big man in red to choose some of her seasonal favorites, old and new. Although Mrs. Claus is content to leave the vocals to Judy, she pops in and out throughout the CD, introducing songs, sharing the meaning of Christmas and reading from Santa’s Book of Good Girls and Boys.

But the strength of this CD is all Judy. She was born to sing Christmas songs. With a warm, clear crystalline voice reminiscent of Karen Carpenter, she delivers carols, hymns and comic holiday remembrances, floating effortlessly between traditional secular songs like “Deck the Halls” and songs with an emphasis on the reason for the season. Her own hymn, “Blessed Be God,” is a lively, uplifting retelling of the birth of Christ – sounding as if it would be equally at home in any house of worship or on stage at a Christmas pageant, bringing all in attendance to their feet.

“The House on Christmas Street” is the stick-in-your-head hit single from this new classic collection. This remix of the song that became a YouTube sensation with anyone into seriously decorating their home for Christmas was the inspiration for Judy to hit the road for her decorator’s holiday tour. Nearly three thousand videos of houses all over the world feature the song in their animated lighting shows.

Not content with one decorator-inspired song per CD, Judy also gives us this year’s YouTube phenomenon-in-the-making: “Where Is Santa Claus.” With decorations to the max, somehow Santa has gotten lost among the snowmen, elves, candy canes – kind of a Christmas Where’s Waldo? (An idea for budding music video-makers: have your Santa light up on the chorus so kids watching the display and listening can point to Santa and exclaim to their parents that they have found him.)

Whether you are looking for new holiday music to decorate by, songs to sing with the kids as they open their gifts or simply to spice up your collection of holiday tunes, this one is for you. I plan to have “The House on Christmas Street” floating out on the lawn between Thanksgiving and the New Year to give my house the pizzazz my neighbors think I lack.

This article was included in the July 2012 issue of PlanetChristmas Magazine.

By Willy Loman