allusions

Most people who know me know that I love Christmas. More specifically, I love the Christmas season, the lights, the music… I decided to make a list of my favorite Christmas songs. To keep me from listing every song I know, I chose to list only 25. I figured one for each day from the beginning of December until Christmas. And, I also chose to only list songs that I actually own on CD. There is no particular order to this list, just as I felt like typing them. And, don’t worry if you’ve never heard most of these songs, I don’t have too many common ones.

• “Have Yourself a Merry little Christmas” Christmas Kind of Season-Rosemary Clooney: I figured it was best to start off with a classic. It’s hard to imagine going through a Christmas season without hearing her voice (perhaps that’s because I watch White Christmas every year). Though I love the CD I have of hers and enjoy many of the songs, it just feels like this song was meant for her to sing: it’s like fond memories while enjoying hot coco.
• “Messiah Highlights” The Joy of Christmas-Majesty Music: Of course, if you’ve never listened to Handel’s Messiah, I would say to listen to it at least once. However, it can be a bit cumbersome to attempt to listen to every year. This song takes a piece that ordinarily takes over an hour and condenses it into a little over three minutes. We sang this in my high school choir, and it was definitely a favorite for most.
• “Let is Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!” O Santa, Where Art Thou-Various artists: Fairly traditional song, sung the traditional way, but with lots of bluegrass instruments. What can I say? It’s just fun. (Plus, I love snow!)
• “Carol of the Bells” Christmas Grass-Cody Kilby, Darrin Vincent, and Joe Caverlee: One of only a few instrumentals. Though I prefer hearing voices, this song is a must, and this version is just as good as most of the choir versions I have, and it’s got some movement.
• “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” The Christmas Sessions-Mercy Me: One of the best renditions of this song that I’ve ever heard. I’ve like this song for a long time, but hearing this version definitely bumped it up the list quite a bit. The sound of strings at the beginning is awesome.
• “How Far is it to Bethlehem?” Majestic Christmas- Our Daily Bread: All I can say is get ready to see a lot of Our Daily Bread. This song is beautifully sung, and talks of what it would be like to be right there in with Christ as a child.
• “Little Bitty Baby in Bethlehem” Christmas Card-The Wilds A Cappella Chorale: I quite like a cappella music, and this song is full of movement and fun. Once you learn the words, it’s hard not to sing along.
• “Angels Medley” Joy-Avalon: Avalon is another one you should be prepared to see more of. I must admit that they have a typical Christian/pop kinda sound. And, I’m uncertain that I’d buy one of their non-holiday CD’s, but for Christmas, their sound really works. This song is a medley of songs about angels (as the title implies).
• “We Three Kings” A Christmas Eventide-Our Daily Bread: Another instrumental, a piano instrumental at that. It’s fairly traditional, but puts and interestingly fun twist on the classic Christmas song.
• “Go Tell it on the Mountain” All I Really Want for Christmas-Steven Curtis Chapman: Classic Christmas song, well, for the more country folk. We don’t quite have mountains here in Indiana, but I’m sure we can still get the point.
• “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” A Christmas Eventide-Our Daily Bread: “O Come…” is probably my favorite Christmas song, and I really like this rendition. However, I don’t feel it quite does it justice. The first several seconds are instrumental (not really my thing) But, when the choir surprisingly joins in, it is amazing.
• “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” Simply Soundforth Christmas Soundforth: I know, I know, I listed the same song twice. As much as I like the previous song, I feel it lacks in the beginning. This version, and a deep, almost eerie beginning that I quite like, but I feel it lacks in the ending. Even though the songs don’t quite live up to my expectations, I still love the song, so it must be listed here. I’d prefer a song that embraces the hopeless feeling at the beginning (as this version does) and expresses the true joy of the chorus (as the previous version does).
• “It Was a Starry Night” A Christmas Eventide-Our Daily Bread: This song used to be my favorite Christmas song. It’s a beautiful duet, with fluid harmonies, and echoing choruses. It was simply breathtaking the first time I heard it.
• “Joy” Joy-Avalon: This song is a fun/pop song lots of exuberance, which seems necessary with a song whose title is “Joy.” It brings back memories of listening to it full blast in a car full of friends singing as loud as we could.
• “Baby Jesus is Born” Magic of Christmas-Garth Brooks: Another case of someone whose typical CD I would not buy. I tend to lean towards songs that are more unusual mostly because I have so much Christmas music that I feel I heard the same song over and over. This song was completely new to me, and was one that I found my foot a-tappin’.
• “Mary Did You Know?” Merry Christmas with Love Clay Aiken- This song I fell in love with a few years ago when the church choir I was in sang it. It poses questions that I think most people completely forget.
• “O Holy Night” Country Christmas-Ronnie Milsap: I heard this song for the first time (that I can recall) when I was in about third grade. The high school choir sang it in a chapel service, and I remember being so moved at the crescendo to “Fall on your knees…” This version by Milsap may not quite match up to hearing it that first time, but it is still quite moving.
• “Love Came Down at Christmas” Majestic Christmas-Our Daily Bread: Another soft duet, what can I say, I love the way these two sound together.
• “Rocking around the Christmas Tree” The Christmas Sessions-Mercy Me: Just a fun song, and though I’m sure everyone has heard the Brenda Lee, Mercy Me takes it a little more modern.
• “Light a Candle” Joy-Avalon: A well-sung song about caring for each other and helping and praying for one another. An idea that need not be confined to the Christmas season. However, for many people this time of year is one of stress and heartache, and I think it’s important to remember that and do what we can to help others rather than stay so wrapped up in our own joy.
• “Hangin’ Round the Mistletoe” Skaggs Family Christmas-Skaggs Family: A song that brings a smile to my face. Definitely bluegrass in style, but sweet and down-home, and full of fun and love.
• “Lift the Name” The Spirit of Christmas-Majesty Music: Another song from my years in high school choir. It’s one of those songs that I had to learn really well, and the more we sang it the more I liked it (whereas, normally the opposite occurs).
• “Home for the Holidays” Magic of Christmas-Garth Brooks: A common song, but Garth Brooks puts an interesting country/jazzy twist on it, that I really quite like. It makes the song seem more enthusiastic and fun. Truly happy to be home.
• “Jesus Born on This Day” Joy-Avalon: As much as I love their fast moving songs, I have to admit that this one is probably my favorite from the CD. I find the harmony of the vocals to be stunning.
• “Hail to the King Who Comes in Weakness Now” Majestic Christmas-Our Daily Bread: Until I find that perfect version of “O Come…” this song holds my number one spot. And, to be honest, I have a hard time determining exactly why. It is the same beautiful duet as their other songs, and the harmony of their voices is lovely. But, I think there’s also something in the lyrics…Just thinking of the King, the Almighty, who came as something weak. The King who deserves the very best, received the very least.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my list, and if you know any of these songs (especially the more unknown of the list) I’d love to hear back from you….Have any songs you think should be added?