Other years, I’ve run an official poll or done a Top Five/Bottom Five summary about Christmas music. This year, I’m going to live on the wild side and get loosey-goosey and talk about music itself — with highlights and lowlights included, of course.
I love music. I listen to it almost every single day. When I play the 36 Questions game with friends (including visiting bloggers — I did it this year with Birchie, SHU, and Kae!!), two of the questions are: When is the last time you sang to yourself? and When is the last time you sang to someone else? While others sometimes have to think about it, I pretty much always answer confidently: “Today.” I sang to myself today and I sang to someone else today.
So it’s no surprise that I LOVE Christmas music.
But after 38 years of listening to the same music, I’ve grown a little weary of certain standard songs. These days I’m especially drawn to new arrangements or creative spins on the classics. And I’m almost always enamoured with songs written in a minor key like I Wonder as I Wander, In the Bleak Midwinter, or O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. (My mother always said minor songs felt sad; I find them beautiful. I feel like this fits neatly with my personality: pessimistic by default, optimistic by choice, nostalgic, and drawn to deep thinking.)
Here are a few of my favs (this is not an exhaustive list by any stretch):
CAROLS
- O Little Town of Bethlehem. It feels like a lullaby — calm, peaceful, and a little haunting.
- Go Tell It on the Mountain. This one wins for most interesting arrangements. It’s lively, joyful, and always fun.
- Silent Night. I know some people are “over it”, but I never am. It’s still haunting and lovely. I used to sing it to Indy at bedtime year-round.
CLASSICS
- White Christmas. Need I say more?
- Silver Bells. My favourite day of the year growing up was Christmas Eve: shaking gifts under the tree, guessing what was inside, singing around the piano—and always ending, without fail, by singing Silver Bells.
- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Classic, simple, and just the right amount of melancholy in a hopeful, reflective way. (I might be overthinking it.)
NEW RELEASES
- Comfort and Joy — Jason Gray / Point of Grace
- Christmas Looks Good on You — Natalie Grant
- Room at the Inn — Rend Collective (LOVE this one)
- lowest of lows — Josiah Queen
- Long Expected — Brandon Heath
NO THANKS
In general, I find most Christmas songs pleasant. While I don’t purposefully seek out It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year or Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, I’ll still sing along. But a few tracks send my finger straight toward the “Skip” button.
- Santa Baby. Flirty? Maybe. Creepy? Absolutely.
- Last Christmas. Some dear friends love this song and I love that they enjoy it! It just doesn’t do it for me.
- All I Want for Christmas Is You. I don’t like it… but my teenage daughter does, so I listen and occasionally sing with gusto (#ParentalCompromise).
- Mary, Did You Know? I know I said I love minor-key songs. But this one grates on my nerves more than any other Christmas song. I cannot bear listening to this song. [Indy was reading over my shoulder when I was writing this post and he said: Did you list Mary, Did You Know? My kids know how I feel about this song!]
- The 12 Days of Christmas. Even the funny versions feel like too much repetition for my introverted, minimalistic tendencies. I do not need that many gifts from my true love. Ever.
Your turn:
- What are your favourite Christmas songs?
- Which ones do you automatically skip?
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I don’t have any Christmas songs that I love or don’t, but I DO love that you sing every day, Elisabeth! People who sing daily always strike me as genuinely happy – it adds such a simple, joyful layer to life.
I sing plenty myself, mostly in the car (and since I’m never alone, there’s always someone trapped listening). And of course we sing at our Bible meetings.
But singing to a real audience the way you have? Ah no, I don’t have the talent or the courage to do so. I admire people who step up, own it, and actually have the talent to pull it off. It’s a gift!
Oh how I love to sing! If I’m not singing, I’m humming. All. the. time. John will often look at me and say: What did you say? And I was like – oh, I was just singing/humming. It’s often mistaken for trying to talk with someone in the house, when in reality I’m deep in my head belting out a tune 🙂
Bethlehem Down by Peter Warlock. Sung by Voces 8.
Absolutely beautiful.
And I agree with your preference for carols in a minor key.
I’m making a playlist of songs I’m not familiar with from the comments and this is the first addition to the list!!!
Mary Did You Know? drives me nuts musically, but more so because YES. SHE KNEW. The song writer clearly didn’t read the whole annunciation story in the Bible. It’s not exactly something that is glossed over super fast in one verse either. Sigh.
I enjoy a lot of John Rutter’s carols and other similar ones like Lo How a Rose Er Blooming. I also love the traditional Orthodox ones sung Byzantine style (as opposed to Slavic).
I feel so seen! I know so many people who LOVE Mary Did You Know?…and I just cannot stand it!
I love Adeste Fidelis (sp?) and Good king Wenceslas. Carol of the bells can be so good. I’ll change the channel if wonderful Christmas time or so this is Christmas come on the radio. Bare Naked ladies has some great arrangements of carols.
Yes! Good King Wenceslas is definitely a lurking favourite of mine. I love how rich the imagery is; Carol of the Bells can be lovely!!!!
Also yes to the Bare Naked Ladies (and Crash Test Dummies as well).
My favorite Christmas music is hymns – O Holy Night, Joy to the World, O Little Town of Bethlehem – the songs we used to sing in church during the Christmas service. They are so simple and full of wonder. I am not particularly religious and Christmas is a very secular celebration in our home, but I appreciate that it is a miraculous, momentous time in the Christian tradition and I love the feeling of awe and joy the hymns inspire.
There is something uniquely wonderful about Christmas carols. I think that they are special because of the story being told and because of the joy it brings to the hearts of Christians. When I stop to listen to the familiar lyrics, I’m reminded anew of how blessed I am to love and be loved by the Saviour of the world!
I really love Advent music–“People, Look East” is one of my favorites. For actual Christmas music:
. I love most Christmas carols, and I’m so glad I love them again. I went through a period where for personal reasons, I dreaded the Christmas season. It took many years but I can enjoy the lights and music again. Favorites are “Bring a Torch, Jeannette Isabella,”, “The First Noel”, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”. I have a big soft spot for John Denver and the Muppets Christmas album. Aside from that I don’t like most modern Christmas music, and by “modern” I mean written after, say, the 1980s.
Hard pass on “Mary, Did You Know.” If you read the Bible SHE ABSOLUTELY DID KNOW. THE ANGEL TOLD HER. Heavens to Betsy, what a dumb song.
First. I say Heaven’s to Betsy all the time and never hear anyone else use that phrase so this made me disproportionately happy 🙂
I’ve never heard of People Look East. This is going on my To Listen list 🙂
We have a Christmas soundtrack at work that plays over and over again. So in an eight-hour shift I have the pleasure of “Santa Baby” at least four to five times. Just no! Also no to “All I want for Christmas is You” (though I must say, Mariah Carey’s rendition of Oh Holy Night is one of my favorite Christmas songs. Also love Enya’s rendition of “Oh Come Oh Come Emanuel.” And somehow I can’t hear Jose Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad” enough, lol.
Rend Collective has a VERY fun, upbeat Feliz Navidad song. I generally don’t enjoy that song, but have to admit that I am humming it a lot lately because of the Rend Collective version (it’s what we sang to close out the Live Nativity at our church).
Well, you already know mine. I actually love most Christmas music, I love the carols and I love the bops. I HATE Wonderful Christmastime and I also don’t love the Fairytale of New York, but I feel like I should. It feels like it should be on brand for me, but I just don’t like it.
NICOLE. I AM LISTENING TO FAIRYTALE IN NEW YORK THIS VERY SECOND. I don’t even know the song, but it popped up on an instrumental playlist I’m listening to.
I skip any of the newer “pop” songs. I can’t stand them! For example, the top 3 of the ones you do not like. But add Feliz Navidad to that list!
I prefer the older classics with Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Perry Cuomo, etc. I even listen to the older selections on satelitte radio. These were the songs that we listened to when we were little and they are nostalgic to me.
I have never liked Feliz Navidad, but really did enjoy singing along to the Rend Collective version.
The old classics (sung by the old classic crooners) are hard to beat!
We have a 4+ hour long playlist of songs built by my husband’s extended family. It is, um, eclectic- and I love it very very much because each song means something special to someone.
We are a southern hemisphere summer Christmas so many (but not all!) of the songs reflect that.
My absolute favourite song is O Holy Night sung by Hollie Smith & the All Stars. She has a glorious deep voice and I love to share her version (hence my comment)
My other favourite is White wine in the sun by Tim Minchin. It makes me cry every time because it’s about looking past both religion & consumerism to hold family & love at the heart of the day (I really like Christmas, it’s sentimental I know, but I just really like it) plus it speaks to how we spend the day – the beach & the pool & sunshine…
Other songs that are family favourites include James Brown Soulful Christmas, Shaggy – Christmas in the islands, Todd Rundgren “I saw the light” , Sia’s Candy Cane Lane, Carol of the Bells, Six White Boomers (the Bucko & Champs version) & the NZ Ukulele Orchestra version of New Zealand Christmas Tree. I’m also very partial to I saw three ships and it’s just not Christmas without the Pogues Fairytale of New York.
Wow. You are going to keep me busy! So many to add to my list. This is exciting. Starting with O Holy Night by Hollie Smith!!!
I love eclectic mixes.
My kids love the Sia album; I loved it at first, but a few hard things happened the Christmas it came out and so I feel a sense of deep melancholy when I listen to it now (a young girl we knew passed away very suddenly and my son was sick for months). Isn’t it funny how life situations can colour our feelings on certain songs!
We are heavy “Heaven’s to Betsy” users in our house, which comes from its use in my childhood home.
Love it! I sense a blog post coming out of this 🙂
Snoopy’s Christmas has been my favorite Christmas song since I was a kid. And I’ve always loved singing hymns, especially the Christmas ones.
I prefer to listen to the oldies station, so I’m not too familiar with any recent Christmas pop songs.
In community band, my least favorite song to play is Sleigh Ride. And we play it every year, because tradition.
I expect most people would agree that “The Christmas Shoes” is the worst Christmas song ever!
Agreed that the Christmas Shoes is utterly depressing and heartbreaking.
I love Sleigh Ride but I can see it being a pain in the rear to play!!
I like all your classics and carols, but I also love Mary, Did You Know? Other faves include Noel (Chris Tomlin, since I just saw him!) and Do They Know It’s Christmas (makes me cry, every single time due to the lyrics and the nostalgia of that time).
Songs I loathe: Christmas Shoes, I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas, Dominik the Christmas Donkey.
Christmas Shoes is horrible. Thankfully I almost never hear it! Ditto with the hippo song. I don’t like it, but it gets very little air time.
I’m like Belle- I love just about all Christmas songs. I agree the ones in minor keys are especially nice (you forgot God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen!)- maybe because they’re less common.
Yes, there are a few I don’t like- Last Christmas. Nicole and i have discussed this! And All I Want for Christmas is You. I guess the thing I really dislike about those is that you hear them SO MUCH, and WHY??? I don’t get why they’re so insanely popular. I will say that I don’t absolutely hate either one of those, and if one of them comes on and I’m in a really great mood, I might even sing along. HOWEVER, there is one song I absolutely hate, and refuse to listen to under circumstance- The Christmas Shoes. A song about a little kid whose mom is dying on Christmas Eve??? Keep that song away from me! It should be banned!!!!!!
How did I manage to forget God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen? Such a good song!!!
Agreed about Christmas Shoes. Though I rarely hear it, thankfully.
My mom used to sing Silent Night to my little brother year round too! Funny! I like Last Christmas, but I’m kind of over All I Want for Christmas Is You. My favorite song is “Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” We are an interfaith family, and my favorite song for Hanukkah is “Maoz Tzur.”
We definitely see eye-to-eye on those favourite songs as they’re all beloved by me, too.
I love the Carpenters, and think their Christmas album will always shine above all others. Also love Mannheim Steamroller, O Come All Ye Faithful by Steven Curtis Chapman, most of the Christmas album by Casting Crowns, and much of Amy Grant’s Christmas album (because her voice, like Karen Carpenter’s is low enough to sing with!) O Holy Night will always be my favorite—oh my goodness, if Karen had sung it, I don’t know if I could bear the beauty.
I actually I stopped listening to Christmas music the year my dad died. (For awhile, I couldn’t listen to music at all.) It feels too sentimental, too wrong without him around, and I’m not sure why Christmas music is so connected with him, because we weren’t over-the-top in Christmas celebrations. When Christmas music enters my ear space, I prefer carols, and like Elisabeth, I love hearing new versions of old carols.
Converserly, I cannot abide Rocking Around the Christmas Tree or Holly Jolly Christmas or Feliz Navidad.
The Carpenter’s Christmas album gets played every year for me, too. I didn’t grow up listening to it, but it’s become a classic for me.
I think Christmas music will be very bittersweet for me after my parent’s pass. So many of my memories are tied up in the music in our house and while I’m no longer a kid Christmas, like no other time of year, transports me back to nostalgic memories.
My church has their Christmas Concert on Sunday. I wish I could teleport you. It is 10/10 amazing. The director has her doctorate in music so it is a legit amazing concert. It ends with 500 choir members singing Silent Night/Peace Peace by candlelight (there are 500 between the church’s 2 campuses + all the youth choirs).
I am sort of a melancholy person in general as bad as that sounds, so I also like more melancholy/somber songs, like Lo How a Rose Er Blooming, In the Bleak Mid Winter, and O Come O Come Emmanuel. I also love Silent Night. But I appreciate peppy songs like Joy to the World. There is a brass section at our Christmas Eve services so that is an especially gorgeous song with brass, which always makes me think of Jenny’s family!
I do not like the 12 Days of Christmas. But you should look up “The 12 Cookies of Christmas” on youtube. It’s sang by Cookie Monster and other Sesame Street characters and it is pretty fun/funny! I am kind of burned out on “All I Want for Christmas is You.” I respect the song and her singing range, but it’s been overplayed for me.
I want to teleport for this concert and for the live Grinch. Both leave me feeling insanely jealous 🙂
I am also a nostalgic/melancholy person, so those minor songs really touch my soul.
I sing to Hannah almost every day. When we go for a walk it’s the “Who’s The Best Puppy in the Whole Wide World?” song (It’s Hannah/It’s Hannah/It’s Hannnnnnah Bannnnnnana). Maybe you have to be there to appreciate it. I also sing to her a lot of Bon Jovi when we’re doing things she’s doesn’t like, including getting nails done and taking a bath.
Because I am a heathen, I like secular holiday songs. Let’s Rock Around the Christmas Tree! Let’s Jingle those bells! Let’s go for a Sleigh Ride! I’m 100% agree with Mariah that all I want for Christmas is You. I’ll listen to the traditional religious songs, but they don’t actually mean anything to me. They’re beautiful, of course, but so is A Snowflake Fell (and It Felt Like a Kiss) by Glasvegas. *shrug* There’s music out there for all of us!
Awww, love this! I can imagine Hannah looks like she tolerates it (at best) but internally her heart is bursting with joy!!
As I scrolled down I got really nervous the Waitresses Christmas Wrapping was going to be on your no list because I ABSOLUTELY LOVE. THAT. SONG. It’s more of a love story than a true christmas song but it just has all the cozy holidays memories for me and I love it so much , including the way the singer (who died really young of cancer, sad!!) sang it.
(I also like Mariah but can totally understand not liking it. Haha.)
That is a song I haven’t heard in years!
You just reminded me that one of my favorite Christmas albums is Nat King Cole’s Christmas album…the original one, not the newer one that has weird songs added to it. My kids always liked his “I Saw Three Ships” rendition!
I listened to this album last night and it’s so good 🙂
I love that you sing. In these days I find that singing saves my soul from sinking too low.
Advent – my favorite Advent music is the hymn “People Look East”. And “Let All Mortal Flesh” which just sounds sort of medieval. I love the tune to “O Come O Come Emmanuel” – it’s beautiful and timeless – but I find the lyrics very problematic, as to me they seem antiSemitic or close to it.
Christmas music – my all-time favorite is “The Wexford Carol.” Any rendition is marvelous, but the one with Yo Yo Ma and Alison Krauss is excellent. “Silent Night” is truly getting old and worn out, but I think there would be a rebellion in the pews on Christmas Eve if we didn’t sing it while lighting candles. I feel the same as you on “Mary, Did You Know” for all the reasons you mentioned.
As for secular music of the season, I can’t stand “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” because no, it isn’t and jingle bell is not a verb. The song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” should be banished from the earth.
Singing definitely boosts my mood and tends to energize me.
Baby, It’s Cold Outside is DEEPLY problematic.
I love O Come, O come, Emmanuel, Let All Mortal Flesh, and In the Deep Midwinter best of all. Oh, and I love Mannheim Steamroller’s rendition of Pat a Pan.
My favorite albums are Julie Andrew’s album from 1966 (belonged to my parents and I have it now), Lessons and Carols from Cambridge, and Angel’s Glory with Kathleen Battle and Christopher Parkening
I don’t care for most of the modern Christmas songs and I really dislike Breath of Heaven.
I wonder what that album is of Julie Andrews; the one I listened to growing up was Sounds of the Season by Julie Andrews!!!!
I also love, love, love, Living Strings, Living Voices White Christmas album. Those two are the most iconic from my childhood.
I looked it up. It is Julie Andrews With André Previn And The Firestone Orchestra And Chorus – Your Favorite Christmas Carols, Volume 5
We had a whole series of the Firestone albums. I still have at least one or two others. When my dad stopped listening to LPs, he gave them all to me. My husband has a fantastic audio setup with a record player so we listen to lots of old recordings.
We have a record player and a handful of classic Christmas vinyls and I just love the ambience and crackle. Definitely extra magical.
The best thing about that song is the opportunity to have conversations about just how problematic it is with my kids…
The only Christmas song I *really* hate is The Christmas Shoes. That song makes me so angry. I’m also not a huge fan of Mary, Did You Know? either. Everything else, I’m fine with! Give me some Last Christmas, give me some Wonderful Christmastime… I’m good.
My favorite Christmas song is Silent Night! I just find it to be such a comfort song. <3
Me too! It sounds like a lullaby to me and is such a classic. Plus, it’s fun to sing acapella and harmonize to!
I am also drawn to minor songs. Yeah, they might be a little sad, but also so beautiful! I am also more a fan of the classics, not so much the pop and funny Christmas songs. I like to get a little nostalgic around Christmas.
YES! I am nostalgic to my core, especially at Christmas.