I would also add Ave Maria, because without the Incarnation we would have no Baby Jesus at Christmas time.
Do go to the site to listen to the videos of these songs being sung!
My family likes Mary’s Boy Child by Boney M, from the early 80s.
It’s really, well, different. Sung in English by Germans with a reggae beat. If I remember correctly, it was the same producers who brought us Milli Vanilli.
“Hark, now hear the angels sing, a King was born today,
And man will live forevermore, because of Christmas Day.
Mary’s boy child, Jesus Christ, was born on Christmas Day.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7-4GC828rM
Makes me tear up every time.
Mary did you know makes me cry every time I hear it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0WIJw8JVeU
It’s one of the few songs that takes Jesus out of the manger and talks about Him being Lord of Creation.
Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Did you know
That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
That your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you’ve delivered
Will soon deliver you
Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Did you know
That your baby boy will calm a storm with His hand?
Did you know
That your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little boy
You’ve kissed the face of God
Mary, did you know?
The blind will see
The deaf will hear
And the dead will live again
The lame will leap
The dumb will speak
The praises of the Lamb
Mary, did you know
That your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Did you know
That your baby boy will one day rules the nations?
Did you know
That your baby boy is heaven’s perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you’re holding
Is the Great I Am
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.
Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away when He comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
Enough for Him, whom cherubim, worship night and day,
Breastful of milk, and a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels fall before,
The ox and ass and camel which adore.
Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
But His mother only, in her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the beloved with a kiss.
What can I give Him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give Him: give my heart.
me too on O Holy Night. i love it and i cry almost every time i hear it. we saw Mannheim Steamroller last night and they did a wonderful job with that song. i also love the Hallelujah Chorus. MS did an awesome job with that too.
< /sarcasm>
Merry Christmas Everyone.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Oh Holy Night is my favorite.
Religious, tie, “Silent Night” and “O Holy Night”, secular, “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”. The later, touched me very much, because I was singing it to an older cat, one with FIV, at the local no-kill shelter I volunteer, with the wish that he will get the Christmas gift of a commitment to an adoption. He is now adopted and will be going home on 1/6/11 to a new forever home.
You have got to go to YOU TUBE and here this song as sung by Pavarotti - with the children’s choir.
Another secular favorite, “The Christmas Song”, Nat King Cole. From the same recording, not too well known, “A Cradle In Bethlehem”, just the title itself, brings tears to my ears.
“O Holy Night!” and “Mary Did You Know?” are two of my favorites.
that’s a hard one, I like them all except for this one that i never heard of until i saw this thread — Once In Royal David’s City
Christmas carol...”Silent Night”
Current Christmas song...”Christmas With A Capital C”
I have groups of favorites, as some lend themselves to singing and others to listening. Religious hymn that I can warble along with: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel; religious piece thrilling when others are singing: the Hallelujah Chorus (which is also appropriate at Easter). O Holy Night and I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day both make me tear up. For a sprightly French hymn, Bring the Torch, Jeanette Isabella and for a nearly nonsensical lyric but catchy English hymn, I Saw Three Ships.
Both religious and non-religious category: Ring, Christmas Bells/Carol of the Bells. Just discovered that Carol of the Bells was originally a Ukrainian New Year’s song. Now I have a favorite NY song—Auld Lang Syne is somewhat depressing.
Non-religious: Christmas in Killarney for singing (it’s really hard to stop once started), Sleigh Ride (vocal and instrumental) and the Christmas Waltz which I first heard on my Carpenter album.
I second “O Holy Night”, with “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” a close second.
Of course there’s always “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer.......;-)
O Holy Night, Ave Maria, by Franz Schubert especially in the Latin version
What Child is this
We Three Kings
Silent Night
I saw Three Ships
Do you hear what I hear
The Carol of the Bells
Sleigh Ride
The Nutcracker Suite