Thanksgiving is behind us now, looming in the shadows of memory, pepto-bismol, and heart burn. Hours were spent sitting with family, discussing the year as we head towards its end and the new beginnings and promises that lay gleaming in front of us. But like any extended family gathering there comes a moment where things quiet down. A peaceful, if awkward, silence extends over the table of thanks and what is that you hear behind it all? Its the cheerful bells and whistles of Christmas music.

If your family is anything like mine they have already started watching Christmas movies the day the calendar page turned for November. And if their especially like mine, they’ve already watched A White Christmas without you. That being said, I personally forced them to sit down and watch what is unequivocally my favorite Christmas movie. There are a lot of things to not like about A White Christmas, its racist past and connection with Holiday Inn, its glorification of the military industrial complex, the way that it treats romantic partners as prizes to be won instead of people to be respected. But with all that in mind, there is one reason to love this movie, and that’s the music. Romantic, Nostalgic, wildly jazzy in the most theatrical way, the music of A White Christmas was formative for me in ways that I can’t even begin to get into here. With that being said, lets talk about the three best songs from this movie.

3. Count your Blessings

While this song is hokey and sentimental it also hits my heart strings in just the right way. Listening to Bing Crosby be tender and croon a lullaby is how I want to fall asleep every night.

2. White Christmas

This might be cheating because its the titular song, but there’s a reason the whole movie revolves it. White Christmas is the song that plays constantly through my head starting November first and into the whole rest of the year. This song bleeds Christmas cheer to me.

1. The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing

Again I’m cheating here because I can more or less leave the song, BUT LOOK AT THE CHOREOGRAPHY. Such a beautiful use of space and depth in a set. Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen dance as if they were cut from the same cloth and move so naturally together.

-Tim Caston