Christmas is a time to make and reminisce on memories with the ones we love. It’s a time where good feelings fill the air for most as they get in the holiday spirit.
But what about those that don’t fall in that boat? What about those yearning for someone who won’t be spending Christmas with you this year? Well, there’s a country song for that. In the 90s, it was Alan Jackson with “Merry Christmas to Me,” in the 2000s, it was Taylor Swift’s “Christmases When You Were Mine,” and now, in 2020, it’s Lizzie Cates with her new single, “Christmas Eve,” premiering today exclusively on Pro Country before its release tomorrow!
Of her new single, Cates says that she and her co-writers, who had written a song the previous day, felt driven to write a Christmas song, a song that will hit close to home given the open nature of its ending.
“After a write I had with the same writers, Kate Hasting calls me while she was on the treadmill and says that she thinks we should write a Christmas song. So we all got together the next day and wrote ‘Christmas Eve’ about how there’s always someone who makes Christmas feel like Christmas and without them, it just doesn’t feel the same,” says Cates. “In the case of the song, it was about a relationship with someone you felt so close to but had broken up the following year. However, the magic of the season makes you feel hopeful that that person just might feel the same way. We kind of left the song up to interpretation and let the listeners kind of decide if they get back together or not. We loved the song so much that we recorded it in the same day and decided to release it this year two weeks later.”
Though the song leans more on the loss of a relationship, Cates says she connects with the song on a more personal level as she shares her favorite memories of Christmas.
“Christmas Eve was always my favorite growing up. I would spent it with my grandma who taught me my love for country music. We would bake cookies and sing Christmas carols in the kitchen. Christmas always reminded me of my grandma. She would go all out for it. She covered her house in lights and angels. I can still picture the tree with red ribbons. I remember the last year I had with her, she hugged me tight and told me she hopes I make it to Nashville someday and gave me some of her old cowboy boots and Nashville shirts,” says Cates. “My grandma passed away when I was 13 of cancer, so Christmas hasn’t been the same since, but I still play her favorite Christmas song, ‘Let It Be Christmas’ by Alan Jackson, every Christmas Eve and put red ribbons on my tree.”
Give the song a listen below!
“Christmas Eve” info:
Songwriters: Lizzie Cates, Kate Hasting, Sarah Jones, Robbie Artress, Josh Beale
Recorded at Robbie Artress’ studio on Music Row
Producer/Mixer: Robbie Artress
Master: Grammy-nominated Adam Grover at Sterling Sound
Pro Country 
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