For all of the glorious reasons to love November and December, I particularly love it because of Christmas music.

XM Satellite Radio has been playing Christmas music for the past week. It has been a sheer pleasure. Last Thursday as I was driving around from Closter to Paramus to Ho-Ho-Kus and back to New Milford, listening to music that can only bring a nice level of peace and comfort in one’s heart made the extended trip magnificent. XM is planning to release other Christmas and holiday related music channels beginning on Thanksgiving, including one dedicated to Hanukkah music. And each of those stations will be something I will be checking out.

But this morning, my heart smiled as I heard one of my favorite bands on XM’s Holly 103 – Mannheim Steamroller. They are a new age synthesizer/acoustic group of three people who make some of the greatest Christmas music I have ever heard. The first time I heard their rendition of “Silent Night” on the Rush Limbaugh Radio Show many years ago, it brought tears to my eyes. This morning, as I sat in my office here at church, I popped open my iTunes and started to listen to them again.