All Time Favorite Christmas Music

Christmas music brings the kid out in all of us. It touches something deep within our psyche, and deep within our soul. There are songs that bring back fond childhood Christmas memories. Like the time my father grabbed my mother and they danced around the Christmas tree after we had gotten it decorated. We didn’t have much money for gifts, and Mother always worried about how we would make ends meet. But that night, she had an enormous grin on her face as my father, clad in his long-johns, danced and twirled her around the tree. At four-years old, I laughed, jumped and clapped as I watched them dance to one of my father’s favorite Christmas songs, Jingle Bell Rock. At that moment, I didn't care if there was a single gift under that tree.

Another song that stirs childhood memories, and one of my mother’s favorite Christmas songs, is, I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus . I thought it was a naughty song until I got older and understood who Santa was.

As a teenager I became more aware of the true meaning of Christmas and loved singing more spiritual songs in church each Sunday. Mostly, I enjoyed trudging through the snow with the youth group on our annual Caroling Pilgrimage.

As I began to share Christmas memories with my own children and make new ones with them, we enjoyed some of these old songs and found some new ones. All three of my children are musically inclined; all have played in various bands in school and church. One of our all time favorite Christmas CD’s to listen to is Mannheim Steamroller’s, A Fresh Airé Christmas.

Music is a medium through which my soul is stirred, my imagination fed, and my heart brought to life. Listening to any music is like plugging into the life that stirs all around, but listening to Christmas music touches me even deeper. Perhaps, it’s the kind of music that reaches across time and space, goes beyond man-made borders and transcends cultural and political differences to bring this struggling planet, and all its people, into peace and harmony, if only for a short time.

My all time favorite, simply tells the Christmas story in one song. If all Christmas Hymns were lost from mankind, I pray that this song will endure through the ages.