Gaston County Is Chock Full Of Christmas Parades In December

If you missed this year's Thanksgiving Eve Parade in uptown Charlotte or the annual Christmas Parade in Belmont, you need to get with the program. The holiday season is here and that means it's time to get festive! Don't worry, though, there are still plenty of Christmas parades to check out in the area this December, especially in Gaston County.

Before we get to the parades, there are a couple of other Yuletide events to enjoy in Gaston County. The annual "Holidays at the Garden" is already underway at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden in Belmont and it continues through December 23rd. And for the 68th year, the town of McAdenville is transformed into "Christmas Town USA" through December 26th. You can drive through to see the holiday lights each night from 5:30 to 10:00 p.m. That's sort of like a parade except you're in it!

The actual parades begin on Saturday, December 2nd. You can see the schedule below with start times and location of where each parade begins. Santa has a lot of stops to make this month!

We hope you've been enjoying the holiday music on Christmas K104.7 this year. It's always a lot of fun for us to play a wide range of Christmas songs from so many different artists and eras. And we're sure you have your favorites. What would you say are the best Christmas albums ever recorded?

Entertainment Weekly has shared its ranking of the 25 best Christmas albums of all time. Many of them are what you’d expect. Classic albums from the Carpenters, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and my personal favorite, the Vince Guaraldi Trio's soundtrack from A Charlie Brown Christmas, are all on the list.

There are also some more contemporary releases in the top 25 from Michael Bublé, Norah Jones, Tyler the Creator and, of course, Mariah Carey. It's hard to argue with most of Entertainment Weekly's selections, but there are a few glaring omissions. For instance, where are Burl Ives, Dean Martin, or Trans-Siberian Orchestra? And can someone please explain to me how Andy Williams got left out of the top 25? For Pete's sake, his nickname was "Mr. Christmas!"

While the list may not be perfect, it will certainly make you feel happy and nostalgic. Check out samples from the top picks below:

Jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi was contacted by television producer Lee Mendelson to compose music for a documentary on the comic strip Peanuts and its creator, Charles M. Schulz. It never aired, but Guaraldi's songs were released in 1964 as Jazz Impressions of A Boy Named Charlie Brown. A year later, Coca-Cola commissioned a Christmas special based on the Peanuts characters and Guaraldi returned to write this amazing soundtrack.

The Beach Boys' Christmas Album was the seventh studio album released by the Beach Boys, It contains seven holiday standards and five original Christmas-themed songs, including "Little Saint Nick," which was written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love. According to Songfacts, the tune is based on the Beach Boys' 1963 hit, "Little Deuce Coupe."

The late Phil Spector was the troubled genius who gave us the "Wall of Sound" in the 1960s. He worked with such iconic acts as the Ronettes, the Righteous Brothers, Ike & Tina Turner, the Beatles, and the Ramones. In 1963, Spector produced an album of Christmas songs featuring his stable of talent at the time, including the Crystals, Bob B. Soxx & the Blue Jeans, the Ronettes, and Darlene Love.

Jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald recorded this fun album  of secular Christmas favorites in the summer of 1960. And backed a studio orchestra, Ella does make the songs swing. Fitzgerald released a second Christmas album featuring the more traditional religious songs of the holiday in 1967.

Although Nat King Cole had recorded several holiday singles earlier in his career, this was his only complete album of Christmas songs. The Magic of Christmas is the best-selling Christmas album released in the 1960s. Surprisingly, it did not include Cole's best-known holiday single, "The Christmas Song." Originally recorded in 1946, the iconic track was re-recorded for the 1961 album, The Nat King Cole Story.

Elvis Presley was still fairly new on the scene when he released this holiday gem. Elvis' Christmas Album was only his third studio album. On the original 1957 release, side one consisted of six secular holiday tunes, some of which had been written specifically for Elvis. The flip side featured two traditional Christmas carols and four gospel songs.

To see the rest of Entertainment Weekly's 25 best Christmas albums of all time, including their pick for the holly-jolliest ever, CLICK HERE.