Caroling Caroling now we go…

 

[image error]Okay, we've already established that I'm a sucker for Christmas.   I total and complete sucker.  But besides all the decorations, and egg not, and presents, and TV smaltzy movies… there are the carols.  I love Christmas Carols.  I'm the obnoxious person who switches out her regular CD's for Christmas ones the minute the Thanksgiving dishes have been cleared. 

There are the holy ones… O Holy Night, Oh come Oh Come Emmanuel (Ok that's actually Advent), Silent Night, Angels We have Heard on High (I don't think I'll ever be able to hear that song without hearing Stephen Colbert's version from his Christmas Special), O Come all Ye Faithful and countless others.

There are the ones that remind me of family – namely my father's favorite – God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (if I ever get to write another Christmas novella that's going to figure in there somewhere).  Another of my father's favorite's Ave Maria.   And my Mother's love for the entire Messiah.   I still get goose bumps at certain parts.  And a spiritual I love called  Behold That Star.

Then there are the warm and fuzzy ones from TV.   You're a mean one… Mr. Grinch.   Have a Holly Jolly Christmas.   Frosty the Snowman.   We're a Couple of Misfits.  Silver and Gold.   And then there are the old standards.  Jingle Bells.   Santa Clause is Coming to Town.  I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause.  

There are modern rock versions, jazz riffs, operatic arias, country and western swing songs and probably even some rap carols.  And some that I totally missed out on the correct lyrics to.  I thought for years it was "and jelly toast"  rather than "angelic host". 

But there are three that stand out for me.   The first is actually a soundtrack—Vince Guaraldi Trio's A Charlie Brown Christmas.  It is everything I remember childhood holidays being.   The second is even more of a childhood memory.  Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer with a little (okay to my young mind – a lot) of humor (my husabnd actually tracked it down for me and gave me the album as a CD — recorded from the historic archives somewhere in Pennsylvania, and finally my favorite Christmas Carol of all time.   The Carol of the Bells.   

Click here to view the embedded video.

So turn on the disc player and warm up those toes with hot chocolate and a favorite tune.   It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!  What are your favorite holiday songs?