Top 12 Christmas Songs

'Tis the season! With Christmas just around the corner, I thought it would be a good time to share my top 12 favorite Christmas songs.  This was a lot tougher than I expected because there are so many Christmas songs.  I thought about having 2 lists, one for sacred/religious songs and one for so called secular songs.  In the end, though, I just decided to do one list and make the hard choices my dear readers expect me to make.  So, in honor of the 12 days of Christmas, here is my list of my top 12 favorite Christmas songs. How many of yours make my list?

12. "Joy to the World" - We start the list off with a sacred hymn by Isaac Watts, one of my favorite hymn writers. It's one of the older Christmas hymns and it stands the test of time. I especially like the round section ("and heaven and nature sing"/"repeated the sounding joy") in the latter part of each verse.

11. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" - Next is another really old English carol. This one is a positive song (don't worry, Christ came to save us) and the melody is very easy to sing.  This is one I can belt out in church.

10. "White Christmas" - The first non-religious song on the list is one of the earliest and most successful secular Christmas songs, dating back to the early 1940s.  It was, interestingly enough, written by Irving Berlin, who was Jewish.  With its lyrics speaking of tree tops glistening and children listening for sleigh bells in the snow, this song is a classic that has been recorded by hundreds of artists over the past 75 years.

9. "O Little Town of Bethlehem" - This is a song that you actually don't hear that often during Christmas, which is a shame as it's one of the few Christmas songs that speaks of the city of Christ's birth.  This is another one that my baritone voice loves to song.

8. "A Holly Jolly Christmas" - One of my favorite Christmas shows is "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," which spawned this song.  It's an upbeat song first performed by Burl Ives, who voiced Sam the Snowman in the show.  We had the soundtrack on LP and listened to it a lot growing up, so this one has to make the list.

7. "Angels We Have Heard On High" - Another Christmas song that you rarely hear outside the walls of a church.  As a kid, I loved this one because of "Gloooooooooooooria" part in the chorus.  I always found it fun to sing.  Our church uses the chorus as a doxology during Advent, which I love.  The chorus is all in Latin, which makes it unique to this list as well.

6. "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" - Most Christmas songs are happy songs, either focusing of Jesus' birth or celebrating family and snow and such.  This song virtually stands alone in the Christmas canon as a melancholy song. ("Blue Christmas" would obviously be another.) This song first appeared in "Meet Me in St. Louis" in 1944, sung in the film by none other than Judy Garland.  Its lyrics have been tweaked a few times other the years to make it a little less downcast, but it still mentions the hope that "next year all our troubles will be out of sight," so it is still more melancholy than your typically Christmas song.  One of my favorite memories of seeing live musicals was seeing this song performed during "Meet Me in St. Louis" at The Muny in Forest Park in St. Louis, the very site of the 1904 World's Fair that inspired the musical.

5. "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus" - This is probably the most obscure selection on the list.  First of all, it's technically an advent song rather than a Christmas song.  Second, like #7, you seldom if ever hear this one outside of a church.  But I have grown to love this song over the past several years and always look forward to the arrival of Advent and the chance to sing it once again.  This is yet another hymn that I will belt out at church - it seems tailor made for a baritone.

4. "Winter Wonderland" - Like the choice above, this song is technically not a Christmas song, in that it never mentions Jesus or Christmas trees or presents or anything like that.  Rather it is a celebration of winter weather and snow on the ground. But anyone who has walked in the snow and seen the sun shimmer off the ground can relate to some of the lyrics.  This is holiday standard that has been performed by dozens of artists.

3. "Silver Bells" - Whereas most Christmas songs have lyrics that focus on more rural areas (snow in a meadow, riding a sleigh the woods, etc.), this song presents of picture of Christmas time in a city. Shoppers with presents, stores adorned with decorations, stoplights and, of course, the silver bells on the street corners.  When the earliest versions of a song are performed by no less than Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, you know it is a good song.

2. "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" - Like #5 above, this one is a hymn written by Charles Wesley.  It's a great old hymn that is easy to sing.  Another reason I love it? It's in "A Charlie Brown Christmas," when all of the Peanuts sing it around the Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

1. "Silent Night" - While I had a hard time deciding which songs to put on this list, I never even thought twice about which song was going to be at the top of the list.  This is my favorite Christmas song and it has been since I was a kid.  I love when we sing it a capella to close out the candlelight Christmas Eve service every hear.  It gives me chills every time and it wouldn't be Christmas without experiencing it.

There you have it - my list of my favorite Christmas songs.  Which songs would make your list?  I'd love to hear your choices.

Thanks for reading!

Pros & Cons of Your Kids Growing Up

Last week, we hit another milestone in the Golden household when my daughter learned the truth about Santa Claus.  This will be the first time since 2003 that "Santa" will not come visit us.  This milestone got me thinking about the pros and cons of your kids growing up.

Pro: With the Santa myth behind us, we no longer have to stay up until the early hours of Christmas morning wrapping the gifts from "Santa."
Con: With Santa out of the picture, a little bit of the magic of Christmas is gone, the wonder of whether or not Santa is going to come this year.

Pro: No longer having to move that stupid elf every day and being mortified if you forget to do so as the kids pepper you with questions wondering why the elf didn't move.
Con: Instead of waking up excited to find the elf and see what mischief he has gotten himself into, you have to drag the kids out of bed like you do the rest of the year.

Pro: We no longer have to pack half the house (diaper bags, toys, stroller, snacks, etc.) just to take the kids to the store or to grandma's house.
Con: Strangers no longer fawn over your cute little ones. (Wait....maybe that's another pro.)

Pro: You can take the kids out to dinner without it being a major production that will likely result in bribery, tears and a temper tantrum at some point.
Con: The kids no longer eat off the kids' menu, so dinner is a lot more expensive.

Pro: You no longer have to spend a minor fortune on diapers and formula.
Con: You now have to spend a minor fortune on orthodontia and acne medication.

Pro: Your kids no longer have a Christmas list that is as long as "War and Peace"
Con: The things that ARE on their list are generally a lot more expensive (think gaming systems, video games, smart phones, etc.)

Pro: The sports games your kids play actually count.  They keep score, keep track of outs, etc.  Not everyone bats every inning and not everyone gets a trophy just for showing up.
Con: There are a LOT more of the games and if your kid doesn't play well, they may wind up benched or batting at the bottom of the order.

Pro: No more Tooth Fairy, so no more sneaking into your kid's room in the dark, trying to replace the tooth with money without waking the kid up.  Also, no more digging through your wallet and couch cushions to come up with the money from the "Tooth Fairy."
Con: Instead of giving your kid $5 for losing a tooth, you give them $10 to go get lunch with their friends.  It's more expensive and decidedly less magical.

Pro: Bed time is no longer a 30 minute production marked by stall tactics, tears and story time.
Con: The kids now stay up later, which makes it more difficult to watch my TV programs before I start to nod off on the couch.

Pro: You no longer have to worry about your kid's friends and classmates biting them.
Con: You now have to worry about your kid's friends and classmates introducing them to drugs or sex or other bad things.

Pro: No longer having to pay thousands of dollars a year for daycare/preschool.
Con: Saving up to pay thousands of dollars a year for college.

Pro: No more banal, repetitive children's songs played over and over again.
Con: Instead, you get banal, repetitive pop songs played over and over again.

The list could go on and on, but I think you get the point.  There are pros and cons to all stages of life and that holds true with having kids as well.  I'd love to hear some of your pros and cons of your kids growing up.

Thanks for reading!