Favorite Christmas Songs

NaNoWriMo Update: 10,846 words.

Okay, so I know we haven't even hit Thanksgiving yet, but I just love Christmas music, and I wanted to share my three favorite Christmas songs. I was originally going to have two, one secular and one about Jesus, but then I realized I had two favorite songs about Jesus that I couldn't choose between. So there are three.

O Holy Night

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
O'er the world a star is sweetly gleaming,
Now come the wisemen from out of the Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friends.
He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

I think this song is easily overdone, and can get really annoying because a lot of people who couldn't care less about Jesus sing it for its high notes and a chance to show off vocal ability. In fact, I distinctly remember when I was in University Singers, a vocal performance student sang this as a solo for the holiday concert. She did it well as far as musicality, but I was sort of angry about it because during rehearsals, all I heard her do was complain about the rehearsals, brag about how wonderful she was, and swear a lot. It just seemed almost blasphemous for her to sing it. It's a very difficult song to sing, and while we've done it the last couple years at Christmas, I always feel a little bad inflicting it on the congregation for singing because of its long phrases (however beautiful) and its high notes (however moving). But the words are just wonderful. I love this song because of its strong message of why Jesus came into the world in the first place. It's a good one for reminding me of the real reason Christmas is celebrated and for getting my mind focused on the right things.

O Little Town of Bethlehem

O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight

For Christ is born of Mary
And gathered all above
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love
O morning stars together
Proclaim the holy birth
And praises sing to God the King
And Peace to men on earth

How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may his His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still,
The dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem
Descend to us, we pray
Cast out our sin and enter in
Be born to us today
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell
O come to us, abide with us
Our Lord Emmanuel  

I've always thought this song was beautiful, but didn't catch on to the meaning until Casting Crowns came out with their version that highlighted how little people noticed the greatest thing that was happening, God coming down in human flesh. And obviously, that's still something people miss about Christmas, or God in general. I mean, people who wouldn't dream of setting foot inside a church celebrate Christmas because it's an excuse to indulge greed and materialism. But it's really about Emmanuel, God with us. Seriously. How cool is that? Almighty God gets born in a barn so that He could bring us back to Him. All the presents in the world can't compare to that.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Let your heart be light
From now on,
our troubles will be out of sight

Have yourself a merry little Christmas,
Make the Yule-tide gay,
From now on,
our troubles will be miles away.

Here we are as in olden days,
Happy golden days of yore.
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more.

Through the years
We all will be together,
If the Fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.
And have yourself A merry little Christmas now.  

There are a couple reasons I like this song. One, it reminds me of World War II, and I love World War II era stuff. It seems to be a time when people actually cared about getting rid of evil. Second, it debuted in Meet Me in St. Louis, and that's just a fun musical. Third, I have memories of my dad and I singing it in the car together while driving up from Phoenix after holiday shopping. But mostly, I think it's a good song to remind us that not everyone is happy on Christmas, and that the season can really mean pain for a lot of people, and we should be God's instruments in bringing them comfort. And that the world isn't perfect, and Christmas won't make it so. We'll have to wait for Jesus' return for that. 

A couple songs that almost made the list, "Silent Night" (my dad used to sing it as a lullaby to me, year-round), "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" (It's very British and I always imagine Dickens-like characters singing it in top hats and coats, and has a good message), and O Come O Come Emmanuel (it sort of sounds Jewish and feels like something you can sing all the time to pray for Jesus' return).

What are your favorite Christmas songs?