Christmas Music

Note: I think my dad will like this post most of all. He loves Christmas Music more than anyone I know.

One of my favorite parts of of the holidays is Christmas music. I have been known to unabashedly listen to certain Christmas songs year-round. Some of the most beautiful and expressive songs ever written about Christ are Christmas songs... so why should we only sing them one month a year? I know some of you are vehemently opposed to that idea so I won't force it, but during Christmastime is there anything better than decorating your house while the Pandora Mannheim Steamroller Holiday channel plays in the background? I submit that there is not.

I'll admit, some of the more commercial Christmas music is awful. Absolutely painful. And they seem to be utterly inescapable. It seems that the world thinks that there are only 20 Christmas songs in existence so these are covered and rearranged and provoke nausea every year. These songs include but are not limited to the following:


Wonderful Christmas Time- John Lennon
So This Is Christmas -Paul McCartney
(note, ex-Beatles members are responsible for these first two... the Beatles should lose all credibility for this reason)
Last Christmas- Wham!
Christmas Time Is Here- A Charlie Brown Christmas
Jingle Bell Rock- Bobby Helms
Santa Baby- Eartha Kitt
All I Want For Christmas Is You- Mariah Carey

And finally, the all-time worst Christmas song in the history of EVER... the song that makes me want to scream and cry and drive my car off a cliff just so I don't have to listen to it...

Christmas Shoes- someone who deserves a lifetime prison sentence

BUT HEY.

This is supposed to be about the stuff I love. So let's get into that, shall we?

My favorite Christmas songs are MANY, but here are a few definite favorites:

Some Children See Him
What Child Is This
Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel
Pat-A-Pan
In the Bleak Mid-Winter
Whence Is That Goodly Fragrance Flowing
Good Christian Men Rejoice

ANYTHING that the Cambridge Singers do and pretty much anything from Mannheim Steamroller.

My absolute favorite Christmas Song is Oh Come All Ye Faithful. It actually is probably my favorite hymn in the hymn book besides How Firm A Foundation. I would like both sung at my funeral. And wedding.... as we walk out of the temple. And all of my children's births. And all of my birthday parties.



I'd also like to share another of my favorite Christmas songs, Infant Lowly, Infant Holy. We used to sing it in Primary, though it was called Stars Were Gleaming. This song is incredibly sweet.


Okay, I know Pie Jesu isn't necessarily a Christmas song, but it is about Christ and this version is sung by Sissel, who is ridiculous. Seriously, I cannot imagine a more perfect  voice for this song or a more perfect voice for Christmas music in general. I could listen to her clear, beautiful voice all day. She came and performed with the Choir while I was on my mission, which is so sad. I would have loved to see her; this woman is incredible.


But I have to end with the single most exquisite performance I've ever heard (hands down), which just happened to be at a Christmas Concert. In 2005, Renee Fleming came as the guest performer with the Tabernacle Choir for their Christmas program. I still remember where I was sitting in the conference center when I heard this (second to last row in the very back of the highest balcony on the farthest right side) and remember that I just cried as I listened. Steve Snell was sitting next to me. He can attest. I have yet to hear anything that beautiful. This song is also on my list of absolute favorite Christmas songs. Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming: