My Favorite Christmas Songs

It's time for my Top 11 Christmas Songs list.  (It was just going to be 10 and then I found something else.) I reserve the right to change my mind at any time, because that's how I work, but today, these are the songs that I love and that speak to my heart.

There are certain sounds that just make Christmas real.

I'm old enough that Bing Crosby, Andy Williams, and Perry Como are still the voices of Christmas to me.  Some of the most beautiful Christmas music is choral music.  

If I was stranded on a desert island and I could only have one Christmas recording it would be Chanticleer's Sing We Christmas.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Silver Bells

This song has some special memories because my mom and I used to sing it together.  

White Christmas
Christmas just isn't Christmas without Bing Crosby singing White Christmas.



The Christmas Song
It's been recorded by nearly everyone, but since my students have no idea who he is, I'm including the recording of this song by the man that wrote it, Mel Tormé.



And if you are a music nerd and haven't seen this yet, it is a must watch video.

Christmas Like a Lullaby

This song is actually fairly new to me, but I love it.  We listened to a lot of John Denver when I was growing up, especially on car trips, so he is an old friend, one I listen to frequently.  

Thankful

This song is not necessarily a Christmas song, but Josh Groban recorded it on his Noel album.  I was just introduced to it this year when a student brought it in to sing at her voice lesson.  The words spoke to me, especially considering all that has occurred in the last few months. "It's up to us to be the change."

Breath of Heaven

Amy Grant's beautiful song lets us feel Mary's doubts, fears, and faith as she ponders her destiny as the mother of Jesus.  

Christmas Lullaby

This beautiful song is from Jason Robert Brown's Songs for a New World.  It takes us one step beyond feeling what Mary felt, like we hear in "Breath of Heaven", to becoming like Mary.  You can read the text here.  

In the Bleak Midwinter
This beautiful poem by Christina Rossetti has been set by numerous composers.  The tune that most will recognize is the Gustav Holst setting as performed here by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge.  You can read the full text here.



Here's is the Chanticleer recording.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

I first fell in love with this song when I found Patrick M. Liebergen's arrangement for solo voice and an obligato instrument. You can buy the book here, or sheet music here.  We often sing only a verse or two of this, but those verses we sing are from a much longer poem found here.  The melody itself is haunting, but this setting is particularly beautiful.  I didn't think I could possibly find another that I loved as much, and then I heard this recording by the Piano Guys.  

Silent Night
Written original for solo voice and guitar, arrangements have appeared for possibly every instrument and ensemble. Go here to read the verses that we don't often hear.  Here are a couple, one in the original German, and one arranged for orchestra, choir, and congregation.



 

What are your favorite Christmas songs and recordings? Please share.