Ah, Christmas. Time to break out the playlist I haven't listened to for almost 12 months. By last December 26th, I was so sick of every single one, but enough time has finally passed that today I turned that playlist on once again and remembered that Christmas music is often the best part of a holiday that I have no real love for.

Anyone who's had a conversation with me probably knows that I hardly listen to any music that was recorded in a year beginning with "20." I pretty much only listened to music from the '70s to '80s in high school, and in my twenties, I have finally added beloved songs from my '90s youth back in my repertoire.

Don't get me wrong, some great music has come out more recently, and Christmas songs are no exception ("Ho Ho Ho" by Liz Phair and "Christmas in L.A." by Vulfpeck come to mind). But I'm still enamored with music from the past. Here are 8 songs recorded in my favorite musical decades that you'll be sure to hear in my house this year and every year:

1. "Father Christmas" by The Kinks (1977)

Like I said in my introduction, I don't like Christmas that much and I generally get really excited about holidays. What can I say? The reminders of oppressive commercialism and the fact that I live 1000 miles away from my family bring out the cynic in me. So I'll start this list with a proto-punk reminder that any given Christmas of mine really isn't that bad.

2. "Christmas in Hollis" by Run-DMC (1987)

I'm useless at Quizzo when it comes to sports or car trivia, but you want me on your team for the "Name that Tune" round. On one mid-summer Quizzo night, the song category was "Christmas in July." They played a clip from this song and, since I only knew one hip-hop Christmas song, this was the title I wrote down. I got it right.

Anyway, I wish Santa Claus would leave me a million dollars, but I feel a bit richer knowing there's a song out there in which Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels rhymes his name with "Christmas Carols."

3. "Hey Santa!" by Carnie and Wendy Wilson (1993)

This is the titular track off of the Christmas album by Carnie and Wendy Wilson (of Wilson Phillps fame, daughters of Beach Boy Brian.) It's pretty much all I listened to each December growing up. I still absolutely love the song. I'll defend the cheesy music video to this day...

especially knowing it's nowhere near as painfully '90s as...

4. "All I Want for Christmas Is You" by Vince Vance and the Valiants (1989, re-released 1993)

Okay, so I had my choice of horribly over-sung, over-produced '90s ballads titled "All I Want for Christmas Is You," and I went with the less obvious of the two, mostly because of its amazingly ridiculous music video. Some Laura Ashley-clad model, who was apparently a former Miss Texas, lip-syncs to singer Lisa Layne's vocals. And don't get me started on Vince Vance's hair...actually, it's sort of the best.

5. "Last Christmas" by Wham! (1984)

George Michael shared a birthday with me (June 25) meaning that he passed away last year not only on Christmas but on our shared half-birthday. I was watching HGTV when I heard the news. When Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds died a few days later, I didn't think that a year could be worse than 2016 in celebrity deaths. Then, 2017 happened and well, see the following entry.

6. "Christmas All Over Again" by Tom Petty (1991)

This is one of my favorite Christmas songs, but I almost cried while listening to it this morning. I might have to take a break from it for Christmas 2017. I'll eventually write an essay on what Tom Petty meant to me, but for now, you just need to know that the week after his death, I traveled from Orlando to Gainesville to get a tattoo of the Heartbreakers logo.

7. "2000 Miles" by The Pretenders (1983)

Even though I live in Florida now, I still associate Christmas with the cold, and this song captures early winter melancholy so well (and also happens to be by one of my favorite bands.) Since music is what makes Christmas for me, a song with the refrain, "I hear people singing, it must be Christmas time" is fitting for this list.

8. "Christmas Wrapping" by The Waitresses (1981)

I feel like I've chosen some pretty downtrodden songs/anecdotes here, so I'll end with a song that ends on a high note. Like The Pretenders, this band has ties to Akron, Ohio, and put out some awesome new wave music. And this one tells a story, one of a woman who's all but given up on both Christmas and finding love in a given year, until things fall together on a Christmas outing to the grocery store.

So Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and remember that there's always hope that this holiday season will be a great one!