Don’t we all just love the melodies of Christmas? Yesterday at Church we sang our way all the way through the whole Christmas section of the Hymn Book – I loved it! “Angels We Have Heard on High” is one of my all-time favorites, but I also love the more unique carols, like “One Small Child” and “Once in Royal David’s City”.
I love when the Christian radio station starts playing the Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving! But I also enjoy when Jeremy goes into his CD collection and fills the player with some of our favorite albums. I turn the CD player on when I get tired of the radio station – they play “White Christmas” a little too often for my taste. One of my favorites from our collection is The Absolute Favorite Christmas Album (fancy that). I love the variety of artists and the unique arrangements of modern Christmas classics – I especially love “Sing, Mary, Sing” and “Heaven’s got a Baby” – they’re so fun and festive sounding, without losing the reason for the season!
A new CD we got this year that’s destined to become a classic in our house is Michael W. Smith’s “It’s a Wonderful Christmas”. Wow, was I ever impressed with this collection! I think it’s albums like this that really showcase Smitty’s talent. This is mostly orchestral arrangements, with choir vocals in some of the songs. Some of the tracks sound like something from a movie soundtrack – you will feel like you are living in your own classic Christmas film if you play this while decorating your tree or icing cookies.
So, what’s your favorite Christmas song or CD? Do you go caroling? The picture is of the last time I went caroling – two years before I was married. We dressed in classic ‘Dickens’ style costumes, learned parts to some of the most popular carols, and went down to Ithaca and sang in the commons. It was so much fun – several times tourists asked to have their picture taken with us. 🙂 It was very mild that year at Christmas – this year our caroling will all be inside, I believe! 🙂 Sorry about the photo quality – this was before my personal digital age! 🙂 I’m in the red cape and giant bonnet in the back on the left. Look how cute we all are…:) If you were there that day, leave a comment, ok? It’ll be like a virtual Christmas reunion. He, he, he! OK, time for my nap, folks!
Wow, everyone is so young! I think this was around the time that I met you guys. Time sure does fly!!! 🙂
Pardon all the inappropriate possessives. My mind is on gingerbread and not grammar.
I have three favorites depending on what mood I’m in: -Silent Night (by my church) is great for singing along with in the car. The arrangements are classic and yet feel unique Christmas/Advent at my church. -the collection from King’s College Choir at Cambridge is full of lush, soaring choral arrangements. You can practically hear the stained glass. I also like the cd from their lesson’s and carol’s service. Very comtemplative and Advent-ish. Great background music for wrapping presents and baking cookies. May actually be my top fave.-Tran-Siberian Orchestra’s Christmas albums have a story-like quality that has prompted a lot of conversations around here. Some of the songs are very intimate and full of yearning. Some are more of the “rock’s crying out” variety. Very good stuff.
The caroling sounds like such fun!! I love the picture!!
My favorite Christmas music Cd is The Carpenters Christmas.It really feels like Christmas when I play that one!!
monstrous is just the right word! 🙂 I still have mine…in permanent storage! LOL
I WAS THERE! That was one of our funnest caroling times ever I think.Those bonnets you and I are wearing were so monstrous big weren’t they?Such good fun memories we have to look back on over the years.