Christmas Spirit 2021: Celebrate the Holidays with Ukulele Fun!

In December 2020, as way to treat those Coronavirus Lockdown Blues, we used the four Fridays in December as an excuse to dig up a bunch of cool YouTube performances of holiday songs featuring the ukulele. Well, it’s 2021 and we’re at it again! Things are a little better than they were at this time last last year, but we all still need as much Christmas cheer as we can get, so we want to do our part. Here are the first four:

‘Winter Wonderland’ by Cynthia Lin

This mellow and jazzy version of a favorite seasonal classic—written in 1934 by Felix Bernard and Richard Bernhard Smith, and recorded by more than 200 different artists since—is played here by popular uke performer, teacher, and Winter 2020 Ukulele magazine cover subject Cynthia Lin, along with lead ukulelist Brian Liu and sturdy bassist Colin Williams.

‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ by David and Claire Crosby

Based in the Seattle area, the father-daughter duo of David and Claire Crosby have become genuine YouTube sensations over the past few years. Indeed, this video, posted in November 2020, has netted over one million views so far! Why? Claire is a natural; she sings and plays with a confidence that belies her age. It’s almost impossible not to be utterly charmed by her (and her dad’s) performance of the venerable “Rudolph.”

‘It’s Christmas’ by Victoria Vox

This upbeat number is an original tune by the great Victoria Vox, but it sounds like a tune that’s been around for years—always a good quality in a Christmas song! Catchy and filled with appealing holiday images, it also features one of Victoria’s uncanny “horn” solos, which she does better than just about anybody.

‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ by Ukulenny

We close out this week’s offerings with a lovely and soulful instrumental version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” performed by Lenny San Jose, known and loved in the ukulele universe as Ukulenny.