by KT Grant
One of my favorite things about the holiday season that always happens between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the playing of holiday music. There’s always one radio station that will start playing holiday tunes Thanksgiving Day and non-stop for weeks until Christmas Day. Some stations have even started playing holiday music the week before Thanksgiving. There are some holiday songs I can’t get enough of, as well as a few that make me want to scream.
Side note: If I have to hear All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey one more time, I may go crazy.
There are a select few holiday songs that I can hear time and again and they will never get old. Little Drummer Boy by David Bowie and Bing Crosby always gives me a nice warm feeling whenever I hear it. But my all-time favorite holiday song is one that sends chills down my back and makes me tear up because it is so beautiful to listen to.
Since I’m Catholic, my family has this tradition of going to midnight mass on Christmas Eve. There’s always one song that’s sung before mass ends where the choir, in their amazing, harmonic voices, rise up and sing. This song is O Holy Night. The song O Holy Night was written in 1842 and close to one-hundred seventy years later just, it may be one of the most well-known religious songs ever written celebrating Christmas and the birth of Jesus.
Oh Holy Night is my favorite holiday song of all time. I never get tired of it. And my favorite version is sung by Josh Groban. His rendition blows me away each and every time I hear it.
Music can excite, make us cry or bring a smile to our face. Whenever I hear holiday music, I can’t help but smile and feel a great deal of happiness and peace.
So, this is where I ask, what’s one of your all-time favorite holiday songs? Leave a comment here and one lucky winner will received a $20 Amazon gift card where they can buy their own holiday music and perhaps a nice holiday book (why not The Christmas Fantasy by yours truly?)
Find KT:
For the most part, I'd rather stick an ice pick in my ear than listen to the majority of carols. Sorry, just me. If they'd wait and start them the week before Christmas I might be fine. But since I've been haunted be them since before Thanksgiving...
ReplyDeleteshiver
I do tend to like Solstice Bells by Jethro Tull. Nice pagan Solstice song with an extremely complex timing... I can really did that one!
jacarnda at sbcglobal.net
I love Christmas music, and it's very difficult to pick one favorite, but I have to say it's Santa Baby by Eartha Kitt!
ReplyDeletekbranfield@gmail.com
But, but, 'All I Want For Christmas' by Mariah Carey is my all-time favorite! It reminds me of my most favorite Christmas ever, the Christmas I learned I was pregnant the last time after I could I thought I couldn't be and was afraid to try because I thought my baby would die. Well, she didn't die and now she toddles around and dances to that song with me.
ReplyDeleteYeah, you got me with 'Little Drummer Boy'. HAVE to sing that one, out loud, any time it comes on. And yeah, Josh Groban is pretty darn talented. I think he could sing anything and make it sound sophisticated and elegant.
ReplyDeleteOk, dear, you make me want to turn on the radio. Great post.
ohhh! I love Christmas music! There is no way that I can pick just one, though... Anything by Bing Crosby has to be at the top of my list because when my mom was still with us, she would dance and sing like a fool every time one of his songs would come on. :)
ReplyDeletethe_happy_soul @ yahoo.com
I am going to purchase the Glee Christmas album. I love holiday music that's been re-created and re-done. Love it. I don't like to listen to it during any time of the year other than the holiday season, though. One month per year is just right!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway!
mrsderaps @ hotmail . com
:( After working in an office building for 8 years, I'd be happy to never hear another Christmas song again. My desk was near the elevators and the Christmas music started before Thanksgiving and up till passed New Years.
ReplyDeleteI do like Josh Groban's voice.
bacarleton(at)gmail(dot)com
Maureen: Usually when Christmas arrives I want to stick cotton in my ears from the non-stop holiday music as well. But there are some songs I can never get enough of. Also, Christmas Shoes makes me misty eyed.
ReplyDeleteKathy: A very sexy Christmas song ;)
Kimber: Awww!! Too cute :)
Jennifer: Josh makes me swoon like no other singer.
Theresa: I also adore Nat King Cole along with Bing.
Mrs. DeRaps: I wish I had more time to watch Glee. But I did watch the Rocky Horror episode and when Neil Patrick Harris was on.
Brooks: Josh le nom.
Josh Groban's O Holy Night is just about my favorite Christmas song ever! Stations started playing Christmas music the week of Thanksgiving here. I love Christmas music, so it makes me happy.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the release date for The Christmas Fantasy? I need to add it to my TBB list. :)
While I absolutely love the traditional Christmas songs and carols - with The Hallelujah Chorus topping the chart, and all the classics slightly below, my all time favorite - guaranteed to bring a smile to my face and a tap to my toes is James Penguin by Brad Paisley :) I really must add it to a post this week....come and visit http://www.sugarbeatsbooks.com/ sometime this week or visit YouTube for a listen :)
ReplyDeleteI adore Christmas music. And I know what you mean about the right song at the right moment bringing tears. My favorite is Silent Night, probably since we sang it in our high school madrigal choir. We visited nursing homes especially during the holidays and even the men and women in the Alzheimers units remembered that song and would sing along. One of the nurses my senior year took us aside and told us one of the women who'd sang beautifully hadn't spoke in eight months. It was a very magical moment.
ReplyDeleteSteph Beck
You totally got mine with "Oh Holy Night" but I love the Leann Rhimes version best.
ReplyDeleteBut I just heard one on the radio that always makes me laugh--"I Ain't Gettin Nuttin for Christmas". Cause I ain't been Nuttin but bad.
When you're a fan of erotica, this takes on a whole new meaning. I know...isn't that terrible?
Enjoyed your post!
--carlieangelus.gmail.com
I own a few Josh Groban albums. His voice is simply lovely. One of my favorite Christmas songs is Amy Grant's, Grown-up Christmas List. It just stirs up the nostalgia and a few tears.
ReplyDelete106.7FM in NY started playing Christmas music 2 weeks before Thanksgiving. What is up with that? It put me in a weird mood. It just doesn't feel right to hear Christmas songs before Turkey day!
The Christmas Song by Mel Torme. I just love the songs sung by the oldies from the 40's and 50's. I don't have much patience for all the pop stars that have jumped on the Christmas (quick cash) bandwagon. But Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Ethel Merman, oh yeah. I could listen to those over and over and over.
ReplyDeleteI think our station that plays Christmas music starts on Dec. 1. Because most of it is crap, I don't listen very often. I prefer to pick and choose my own.
Liza: The Christmas Fantasy should be out in the next week or so. I'll keep you updated.
ReplyDeleteSugarbeat: I've never heard of James Penguin. Will have to give it a listen :)
Steph: Silent Night is always a good one. Didn't Karen Carpenter do a version of that song? Her voice was so beautiful.
Carlie: I also love the 12 Days of Christmas by the Muppets. Hee.
Scorpio: Good old 106.7! The only station who plays holiday music the week before Thanksgiving.
Tam: I really enjoy the older holiday musis than the more current releases myself.
Um. I'm very ambivalent about the holiday. So my favorite songs are pretty atypical: "Pachabel's Tantrum" by The Therapy Sisters and "The Christians and the Pagans" by Dar Williams.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the carols sound pretty much the same to me. My fave is "Angels We have Heard On High," because I like the challenge of trying to sing the "gloria" in the chorus on one breath.
ReplyDeleteFor a change of pace from all the beautiful but serious music, I like "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" - what can I say, I'm a little twisted.
I love Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You
ReplyDeleteraluk.93 at gmail (dot) com
KT, My favorite is the Latin version of O Come All Ye Faithful, Adestes Fideles. I know you must be familiar with it, after all those years at midnight mass! Nice memories. Thanks for the fun post. (Email in profile.)
ReplyDeleteMichael Crawford singing O Holy Night is one of my favorites. Trans Siberean Orchestra, Christmas Eve in Sarajevo, is always a favorite. Anything by Burl Ives. Anything on the first Very Special Christmas (Whitney singing Do You Hear What I hear? gives me chills). And, for church songs, Mary Did You Know? kills me everytime. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1oHJR2g7Tw
ReplyDeleteI'm a sucker for Little Drummer Boy, too! I love Josh Groban's singing--don't think I have any of his Christmas stuff though. We do love Harry Connick Jr.'s Christmas albums, and also tend to play Mannheim Steamroller's holiday stuff repeatedly :)
ReplyDeletei'm a sucker for "little drummer boy" as well - every year i'm on the hunt for new versions. i have, like, 25 different versions - just saying. ;)
ReplyDeletelove christmas music in general. totally addicting, although i can't really tell you why.
'Baby, It's Cold Outside' but I love most all Christmas songs.
ReplyDeleteJase
vslavetopassionv(at)aol(dot)com
I watch Darlene Love every year on Letterman sing "Baby, Please Come Home", that is some kind of Xmas song and I swear she gets better year after year.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love, Little Drummer Boy, and I love watching the video (David Bowie is my all time favorite musician) But my favorite Christmas song has to be, Fairytale of New York, by the Pogues and Kirsty Maccoll.
ReplyDeleteI get sick of Christmas songs very quickly but I do enjoy the traditional songs. Silent Night is a favourite,
ReplyDeletemy fav is It beginning to look alot like christmas
ReplyDeletemeandi09@yahoo.com
My favorite classic carol is "Silent Night". But my favorite pop Christmas song is "Last Christmas" - the original version by Wham! or the very nice remake by Leigh Nash.
ReplyDeleteChris: Never heard of those songs. They sounds like slow or instrumental versions.
ReplyDeleteGail: How about Dominic the Donkey?
PinkStuff: Well, we all know what I think of Mariah. :P
LSU: Indeed I do!
DP: I swoon over Michael Crawford's version as well. His voice... sigh.
"Pachabel's Tantrum" is a very, very funny and not slow song, mentioning laudanum, whiskey, handcuffs, the gun cabinet...
ReplyDelete"The Christians and the Pagans" isn't slow or instrumental, either - it just tells a good story ("Now win Christians sit with pagans, only pumpkin pies are burning.")
Definitely "all I want for christmas" and by Mariah Carey too. This song is just perfect. I keep picturing the movie Love actually when I hear it (great xmas flick too).
ReplyDeleteThanks for the contest !!!
Hm fav Xmas song, well I always did like last Christmas, yes I go for the pop ones
ReplyDeleteI have 2 favorites. The classic White Christmas by Bing Crosby.
ReplyDeleteAnd I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas.I always laugh listening to that song.
elaing8(at)netscape(dot)net
I'd have a hard time picking just one. O Holy Night, White Christmas, and I Wonder as I Wander would probably be my top three.
ReplyDeleteI want the Glee Christmas album, too!
I used to work retail so once Black Friday hit Christmas music would play non-stop until New Years. I wouldn't mind it so much if they play something more modern and upbeat but it was always the old, boring ones. However, I do enjoy certain ones: the Peanuts Christmas theme, John Lennon's So This is Christmas (War is Over), and of course my favorite Christmas album is Mariah Carey's.
ReplyDeleteElaing8 got me hooked on the I Want A Hippopotamus for Christmas song, lol!!!! After she made me listen to it, I could not get it out of my head or stop giggling! But my favorite one is All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey.
ReplyDeletealliwantandmorebooks@ gmail.com
Hi! I've been (almost exclusively) reading your WTFery (& King Mho Fho) posts for a while off and on - Jess Haines turned me on to the site. Anyway, I couldn't resist - I absolutely adore Weird Al Yankovic's Christmas at Ground Zero. As for a *real* Christmas Song, without fail, every single year, Angels We Have Heard on High gets stuck in my head. It's just so *pretty*!
ReplyDeletereading_is.sexy@yahoo.com
For the most part I try to avoid Xmas music since there's no way to get away from it completely and I know I'll hear plenty of it no matter what I do. The one song that does always make me laugh is The Hanukkah Song - I think it's by Adam Sandler? - The one where he lists out all of the celebrities that will be celebrating Hanukkah, not Xmas.
ReplyDeletejen(at)delux(dot)com
not ahuge fan of christmas music tho i do love Christmas Shoes and cuase its funny the 12 redneckdays of christmas and granma got ran over by a reigndeer also a good one lol
ReplyDeleteim just weird like that really ty for the pertunity
One of my unwritten rules in to never listen to Christmas music before December 1st. So I've bookmarked this post and will come back soon to listen. My favourite carol is Here We Come A Wassailing. No, don't you dare singing it. Please, not yet. : )
ReplyDeleteI'll be Home For Christmas is my favorite holiday song. In any form! It's just the sweetest, most poignant song to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone for stopping by! This is awesome :)
ReplyDeleteJust Binah: That means alot :) Mho keeps bugging me to write a sheep shifting romance.
I love silent night and Ava Marie. Something about those songs i find myself singing all year long. ^^
ReplyDeleteMelissa
jedisakora@msn.com
Oh girl, I'm almost ashamed to admit that I actually like the Mariah Carey song that you despise. I don't really care for her music so I don't know why that carol works for me but it perks me up. So please don't be too disappointed in me.
ReplyDeleteTwo other songs that make me happy are....Run, Run, Rudolph by Bryan Adams and Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee. Dancy tunes not overplayed during the holidays.
joderjo402 AT gmail DOT com
O Holy Night is a great one. Escpecially when sung by someone with a great voice.
ReplyDeleteAnother of my favorites is Little Drummer Boy. I love the version with David Bowie and Bong Crosby
bacchus76 at myself dot com
O Holy Night has always been my favorite, after that it's The First Noel. I love Josh Groban, he moves me to tears everytime I hear him sing. He has such a fabulous voice. He has a new CD out and it's on my Christmas list.
ReplyDeleteseriousreader at live dot com
I love the Christmas Shoes and Faith Hill's a Baby Changes Everything. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com
ReplyDeleteI love O Holy Night! I hadn't heard Josh Groban's version before now, but I really like it. He has such a good voice.
ReplyDeletedrakeLa90 at aol dot com
My favorite has got to be, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". I just love the fun of it!
ReplyDeleteThanks and BIG Hugs,
Ro
My favorite holiday songs are Holly, Jolly Christmas, Santa Baby and Winter Wonderland.
ReplyDeleteCrystal816[at]hotmail[dot}com
I also love O Holy Night and What Child is This, O Come Emmanual, and Silent Night. Thanks for the chance to win!
ReplyDeletetinabxter at yahoo dot com
White Christmas is one of my favorites. It has a special meaning to me.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite song is Ava Maria sung by Josh Groban.
ReplyDeletecaity_mack at yahoo dot com
I love O Holy Night as well. And I also love 16th-century Christmas madrigals.
ReplyDeleteJamaica Layne
Raise your hand if you think Josh Groban should have another Holiday album!
ReplyDelete*raises hand*
Yep. Gotta go with O Holy Night. I also love Silver Bells.
ReplyDeleteI love Josh Groban! O Holy Night is one of my favorite Christmas songs and Josh does a fantastic job with it!
ReplyDeletesmaccall @ comcast.net
Mine is "O Holy Night". I remember being little and hearing it for the first time in "Home Alone." I went through my mom's music books to find the one that had the lines "fall on your knees." Even now, though I am now an atheist (out and proud!), religious holiday songs remain my favorite. "O Holy Night" ranks there at the top.
ReplyDeleteNon secular? I'll go with either "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)", "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," or "All I Want For Christmas Is You."
Christmas is my favorite holiday. <3
I totally vote for Josh Groban to have another Christmas album! Love his voice. Really think he could sing me the phone book and it would be sexy.
ReplyDeleteI love Christmas and as soon as it's on, I'm listening, may help my bday is so close, lol.
ReplyDeleteMy fav song is the Christmas Cannon the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
"O Holy Night" version with Josh Groban
ReplyDelete"Little Drummer Boy" version with David Bowie and Bing Crosby
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" with Brenda Lee
These are a few of my favorite Christmas songs. I think Josh Groban could sing anything and it would be my favorite! I love his voice! :)
TOPSAIL246(at)aol(dot)com
I love Christmas songs! Every year I can't wait for the tunes to start.
ReplyDeleteI have many favs but a few of the top ones are, "Merry Christmas Darling" by the Carpenters; "Where Are You Christmas" by Faith Hill; anything Bing Crosby; and Josh Groban's "Believe" holds a special place too! :D Great post!
bimmergrlmd at gmail dot com
I love The Christmas Song sung by Nat King Cole. And when Darlene Love sings Christmas Baby Please Come Home. There are so many that I like, but those two are up on the top of the list.
ReplyDeletelenikaye@yahoo.com
you hit the nail on the head; O Holy Night is my all time favorite. Almost anyone can sing it and I love it.
ReplyDeleteyourstrulee(at)sasktel(dot)net
I have to agree with Susan, she said Last Christmas" - the original version by Wham! I love it. I also love Mariah's "All I Want For Christmas Is You." :)
ReplyDeleteI especially love the old Christmas songs from the 40's and 50's and 60's. The memories that these songs bring forth are my biggest gifts for the holidays.I also love Josh's sing and the video. His singing actually reaches down into your soul .Congrats on your new release. I wish you much success. :)
Carol L.
Lucky4750@aol.com
The songs I prefer to listen to are usually the faster songs, like rocking around the christmas tree and songs like that. They make my heart cheery and make me want to just get up and dance, not that I can with my messed up knee but it makes my heart dance if nothing else. Though I like the faster songs my favorite christmas song would have to be "Do you hear what I hear". It is hard to make a decision like that although. Christmas is my favorite time of year and I love everything about it.
ReplyDeleteOh Holy Night is probably my most favorite.
ReplyDeleteI love to listen to Randy Travis's Christmas album, he has a fine voice!
I just heard Vanessa Wiliams's My Grown Up Christmas Wish. Such a beautiful holiday song as well :)
ReplyDeletemy kids do a holiday event every year at school and they always end it with This Chrismastide/Jessye's Carol, which the whole huge group sings together. Just thinking about it makes me all happy. I love it (and not just because it ends what always seems like an endlessly long concert)
ReplyDeleteWhile I love christmas music in general, what I listen to set the mood is always the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I grew up hearing them every Christmas and while I'm agnostic, their music is simply stunning. You really don't have to be religious to appreciate it (really, or I'd never like it). The recordings don't do them enough justice but I still think it's one of the best choirs ever. Their rendition of Silent Night always gives me chills.
ReplyDeleteI wandered off and found a rather nice version on youtube with a boys choir. (Gotta wonder how many hours those younger guys practiced just STANDING STILL WITH THEIR HANDS AT THEIR SIDES. Many, is my guess.)
ReplyDeleteThis Christmastide
Carol of the Bells will probably always be my favorite carol; when it's done well. One of my favorite versions is the Barenaked Ladies'. It gives me goosebumps. :)
ReplyDeleteNow, as far as humor, "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas" is at the very top of the list. <3
Love the website! I am a fan of the Martina McBride Christmas CD - she has a great voice for the Christmas classics. I also must sing along with the Bob and Doug McKenzie 12 days of Christmas song: "A Beer In A Tree" 5 golden tuques! Love it!
ReplyDeleteMichelle
Carol of the Bells always gives me the chills.
ReplyDeleteAnd how can we forget the Muppets 12 Days of Christmas?
Happy Holidays to You by the Whispers. Its probably not as well known as many of the others on this list, but its the one song I look forward to hearing every holiday season.
ReplyDeleteEmbarrassingly, I'd have to go for that obnoxious song Feliz Navidad. I grew up in San Diego, but I now live overseas, so that song always reminds me of dancing around the living room with my mom while we decorated.
ReplyDelete@KatrinaLatham
O Holy Night by Josh Groban is in my top 5, I love Andrea Bocelli's God Bless us Everyone. The entire soundtrack to White Christmas. On the movie House of Mouse Christmas Mickey and the gang sing a song at the end that I love, but I can never remember the name of.
ReplyDelete