Christmas Songs That Don’t Suck

Last Tuesday, I wrote about bad christmas songs, and today, I want to share good ones. These are songs I (mostly) listen to every year and love.

1. Mary Did You Know? I know that, biblically, this song doesn’t make sense, because Mary did know, but I love the lyrics. I think its just good writing. “This child you delivered will soon delivered you?” Then there’s one line about kissing the face of God. I kiss my daughter and wonder about how Mary felt kissing Jesus.
2. The Christmas Song – Dave Matthews. “She was his girl, he was her boyfriend.” I first heard this song during a special weekend in undergrad, and so it has good memories attached to it. But the guitar is meandering and warm, and I feel warm listening to it.
3. Loreena McKinnett. You may not be into this kind of music, but I’m a Rennie and I like the instruments. Even the traditional songs, the ones we’re tired of, are different. One specific song I love from her is the Coventry Carol.
4. The Nutcracker Suite. I listen to the full suite, not just the highlights.
5. Brass music. Trumpet., which is one of the few good memories I have of my birth father. Songs from the St. Louis Brass Quintet, Canadian Brass.
6. This isn’t traditionally a Christmas song, I don’t think, but I have it on a Christmas CD and love it. Bach’s Arioso, and it is performed by the St. Louis Brass Quintet. I love this song so much I walked down the aisle to it in my wedding.
7. In the Bleak Mid-Winter by the Choir of King’s College in Cambridge. This choir is so beautiful.
8. Skating, from A Charlie Brown Christmas.
9. I have In Dulci Jublio by the Choir of King’s College in Cambridge. I love the harmonies.
10. Oh Holy Night, Tracy Chapman. This song came out the first Christmas after my accident, and I had told the receptionist at my rehab center that I was excited to hear a song I love from a singer I love. She bought me the CD as a gift. A special memory for a special time.

What do you think? What songs do you love?