10 favorite Christmas songs
My husband and I went Christmas caroling Sunday night with a group of friends from our church, Sooner East Church of Christ. It’s a tradition in the congregation to go around singing seasonal hymns for some of the elderly in our congregation, and it always gets me in the Christmas spirit.
In that spirit, I’m listing here 10 of my favorite Christmas songs. This is the first in a series of Christmas-theme lists I’ll be posting here throughout the week in honor of the big day Thursday.
If you still have people left to buy gifts for, some of these lists might help you come up with some ideas. (You can probably download most of these songs and make one Christmasy mix disc.) But mostly, they’re designed to be fun and get everyone in a jolly holiday mood.
I did have to modify this list a little bit. I’ve already mentioned recently on the blog two of my favorite Christmas songs: Barenaked Ladies’ version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and Andy Williams’ “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” which was playing when my younger son, Gabe, was born. As much as I love it, you can’t sing to Vince Guaraldi Trio’s instrumental “Linus and Lucy.” Since I grew up in B.C. Clark Jewelers’ jingle (”Jewelry is the gift to give, ’cause it’s the gift that’ll live and live …) really says Christmas to me, but it’s a commercial rather than a carol.
Here’s 10 beloved Christmas songs that you can sing during the season. And I encourage people to consider getting a group together and going to carol for their friends and family. It’s an old-fashioned idea, but it’s really fun.
1. “White Christmas,” sung by Bing Crosby.
2. “I Saw Three Ships,” Sting.
3. “Hallelujah Chorus,” Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
4. Blue Christmas,” Elvis Presley.
5. “Let It Be Christmas,” Alan Jackson.
6. “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” from “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”
7. “Feliz Navidad,” Jose Feliciano.
8. “Silent Night,” sung by Enya in Gaelic.
9. “Christmas Canon Rock,” Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
10. “Do You Hear What I Hear,” Bing Crosby or Carrie Underwood.
-BAM
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I love pretty much any Christmas song when Bing sings it, especially “Do you hear what I hear.” Alan Jackson’s song is the best new carol I’ve heard in years. (New being a relative term in Christmas songs since most of them are decades old.)
However, I have to say I was surprised to see no Nat King Cole songs on the list. His version of “The Christmas Song” is the best I’ve ever heard.