It's a Wonderful Christmas!

So they were going to send out 150 of the CDs to bloggers. I figured there was no way I'd get one. But in the mail when we got home from NC on Monday was my VERY OWN MWS "It's a Wonderful Christmas" CD!!!! For FREE!!!!

We started listening to it almost immediately as I was keeping AJ occupied while VNB was unloading the car.

Now, before you watch the following videos, I'd like you to keep in mind that filming AJ is like filming wildlife. Usually once he notices the camera, the cute thing that he was doing stops...so this is by no means the best video of him doing these adorable things. Also, these were taken this morning. Everything was better the first time we listened to the CD.

This is AJ "dancing" to the music (he's a little shy at first):

This is AJ "singing" and "dancing" to the music:

Did you notice that the dancing changed (or restarted) with a change in the music? Yep...he's a budding musician too!

Anyway, not only did AJ love the CD, I did too! One of the (many) reasons I married VNB was that he had the MWS CD that I was missing (I'd carried it around so much that it'd gotten too damaged to play anymore). I'm a _BIG_ MWS fan. I know just about every word to every one of the songs he's got on a CD somewhere. And I can sing along with his instrumental album too!

So when I tell you that I know me some MWS music, please believe me (although, um...Santa? I don't have "Stand" yet). This is the third of his Christmas CDs and is far more similar to "Christmas" than it is to "Christmastime." In fact, I'd say that it's a good mix of "Christmas" and "Freedom" (the instrumental). There are more instrumental tracks than on "Christmas" and the vocal tracks are more choral and orchestral than pop like "Christmastime" was. Of course, the American Boys Choir plays a big role, as usual.

Well, let me take that back. I assume it's the American Boys Choir. There were only two disappointing things about this CD. 1) They _just_ sent the CD. Now we don't keep jewel cases, so I don't mind not getting that...but I _do_ like to read and keep the inserts. So I can't say for absolute sure that it's the American Boys Choir, but that's who it's been on the other two, so I'm assuming here. And 2) when it ended, AJ and I looked at each other in disappointment (I'm not kidding, he looked at me with this surprised look when the CD changer changed). Maybe it's because there's less to sing along to, but it just seemed _WAY_ too short.

But really, the youth at my church used to tease me about being an old fart because I listened to MWS and I just kept telling them what an awesome musician he is. As they got older and their tastes more discriminating, they understood what I meant. But with each CD, I'm more and more impressed with his music. Don't get me wrong - "Project" (his first CD) is and always will be one of my favorites, but he just keeps getting better and better!

So four thumbs up (including AJ's) on this CD!