What Do You Want For Christmas?
For this article, I asked five VGM artists to share some of their favorite Holiday traditions along with their Christmas wishes!
Ro Panuganti: A home-studio guitarist and musician, covering video game and other music on Youtube in a variety of rock and metal genres out of his bedroom.
Jayhan: I create my own covers and original music based on the things I love: tv shows, video games and movies.
String Player Gamer (SPG): A film composer and full-time online music producer.
Stevie Viola: I love video games, and I love music.
Soundole: An Australian musician creating recordings of video game music on Electronic Wind Instruments.
What's your favorite Christmas movie?
Ro: Home Alone.
Jayhan: Klaus.
SPG: Batman Returns.
Stevie: Die Hard.
Soundole: That’s tricky to narrow down! I think it might be a tie between Klaus, which is such a brilliant modern retelling of Santa mythology, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, which is a musical and cinematographic milestone. The Muppet Christmas Carol is also a banger!
What's your favorite Christmas song?
Ro: “Frosty Village” from Diddy Kong Racing, or “All I Want for Christmas.”
Jayhan: “Let It Snow.”
SPG: “What Child Is This?”
Stevie: “The Little Drummer Boy.”
Soundole: “Christmas Time Is Here” from A Charlie Brown Christmas because it beautifully evokes a sense of Christmas magic. I’m also a sucker for any of the traditional 1940s crooners’ takes on Christmas tunes, like “The Christmas Song”, or “White Christmas.”
What's your favorite Christmas tradition?
Ro: We usually open our gifts on Christmas Eve, and Christmas morning my family starts playing with our new toys immediately. It’s probably the most relaxed I'll be all year.
Jayhan: Gathering around the Christmas tree with the family.
SPG: The family feasts.
Stevie: Playing poker with the family.
Soundole: I have several, and they’re almost all attached to my family. In the lead up to Christmas, my wife and I watch (and rewatch) a lot of Christmas specials and movies, and on the day itself, I love the obligatory big Christmas feasts and opening presents around a tree! I’m trying to make playing carols as a family more of a tradition too! In the past few years, I've been taking on some kind of recording project for Christmas, and this year will be no different.
What do you want for Christmas?
Ro: Materially, I’d love more organizers so I can kick 2021 running with good remote work living and any of the AAA games I totally missed this year for PS4. Otherwise, I’d ask Santa to get the pandemic controlled and the vaccines to everyone.
Jayhan: To enjoy Christmas with my boyfriend. That’s all I want to be honest.
SPG: Peace of mind.
Stevie: To spend time with my brother.
Soundole: Personally, I’d like quality time with my family, but my favourite presents to receive are personally made things that surprise me. Thinking more empathetically, I’d be very happy to see pandemic conditions improving so people in hard-hit countries are able to enjoy the holiday as much as I can. A world that is kinder to both people and animals remains a perennial Christmas wish.