A Few of My Favorite Things: Christmas Carols

The Christmas spirit doesn't usually hit me until the week before the big day. That's when I'm ready to decorate and shop. That's when I appreciate most the 24-hour Christmas music the local radio station has been playing since the day after Halloween. This year, for some reason, I have downloaded, sung, and tuned in to all things carols rather early. Some songs I couldn't wait to hear didn't appeal anymore and some I had forgotten or never liked tickled my fancy. As a constant list maker, I was inspired to draft some of my favorites.


1. This Christmas. Donny Hathaway's and Christina Aguilera's versions are the best.

2. River. Kenny Lattimore does an AMAZING job with this. Peter White on guitar doesn't hurt either. (Where is Kenny Lattimore?)

3. O Holy Night. Celine Dion kills this when she holds that note forever and 10 days -- twice.

4. War is Over. Ms. Dion rules again.

5. Do You Hear What I Hear? The late great Whitney Houston makes me shake my head with a smile. I get chills too.

6. My Grown-Up Christmas List. Every man has a friend when Amy Grant, Monica and Kelly Clarkson perform their renditions.

7. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting). The first person I heard sing this was Nat King Cole. You never forget your first.

8. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. In my mind's eye, I always see Judy Garland and Margaret O'Brien in that window just before Tootie runs out and gives Frosty a beatdown.

9. Silver Bells. I thought I liked the version by A Few Good Men. I downloaded it and thought not so much. But then I listened again and thought oh yeah. So yeah.

10. (That's) What Christmas Means to Me. Stevie Wonder, CeeLo Green and Paul Young get me dancing.

11. Please Come for Home for Christmas. The Eagles, namely Don Henley, add some soulful flavor to the season.

12. Happy Holidays. I thought that was Burl Ives but it's Andy Williams. Who cares? It's fun.

13. The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. Staples had a field day with this one at back-to-school time.

14. The Little Drummer Boy. This childhood favorite stirs memories of the TV special.

15. Winter Wonderland. This song made me break out the dictionary when I was kid. I had to know what a parson is. And Annie Lennox scares me but her version mitigates the fear some.

16. Ave Maria. The gold standard of music, Celine Dion, strikes again.

17. Merry Christmas, Baby. I'm not big on Springsteen but he's called The Boss for a reason.

18. Where Are You, Christmas? Ok. Don't laugh. I thought this was Britney Spears. Sorry, Faith Hill. To my credit, I knew better as the song went on. There was a strength there that Spears couldn't pull off without some help from the switches and levers in a studio.

19. Jingle, Jingle, Jingle. Ok, that's Burl Ives.

20. Christmas Time is Here. You can't go wrong with the Peanuts.

21. Every Year, Every Christmas. Think Luther Vandross meets The Script's The Man Who Could Not Be Moved.

22. Don't Save It All. Profound lyrics sung by . . .you know who.

23. Linus and Lucy. This is a Christmas song, right? Brings to mind Pig Pen dancing and raising dust around Schroeder's piano.

24. Mary, Did You Know? CeeLo Green and Vanessa L. Williams . . . We knew she could sing but CeeLo can sang.

25. Do They Know It's Christmas? Music for a good cause with deep lyrics.


Honorable mentions: I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas, All I Want for Christmas (Is My Two Front Teeth), I'm Getting Nothing for Christmas, and What Do the Lonely Do?