How one song can define your Christmas year

This Christmas season, my kindergartner’s class performed “Last Christmas” as part of their holiday program. To help the kids learn the lyrics, the teachers asked us to play the song at home.

I decided to take it a step further. I created a playlist of 158 versions of “Last Christmas.” Yes, you read that right: 158 versions. The playlist clocks in at a staggering 10 hours. The challenge was clear—could we listen to the entire playlist without stopping? Thus, #LastChristmasMarathon was born.

For anyone curious, here’s the playlist: Spotify: Last Christmas Marathon.

Once the marathon began, I conveniently found myself organizing things in the basement—far away from the speakers playing the playlist. Meanwhile, “Last Christmas” echoed throughout the house, creating the perfect festive backdrop to the day.

What struck me about this little project was how it transformed the song into a time capsule. Most Christmas songs blur together over the years, tied to vague memories of past holidays. But now, whenever I hear “Last Christmas,” I’ll think, “Oh yes, that was 2024. My kindergartner was singing it nonstop around the house, getting ready for her school performance.”

This got me thinking: Why not turn this into a tradition? Each year, I’ll pick one Christmas song, create a playlist with all the different versions I can find, and listen to it on repeat for a day. Every year will have its own soundtrack, a unique marker of that holiday season.

Imagine a timeline of Christmases, each defined by a single song: 2024’s “Last Christmas,” 2025’s “Marshmallow World,” 2026’s “Suzy Snowflake”… The possibilities are endless, and so are the versions of each song.

What do you think? Would you ever try a #ChristmasSongMarathon? And if you had to pick one song to represent this year, what would it be?