
It’s probably safe to say that we all grew up listening to Christmas songs—Christmas hymns sung at church and popular songs on the radio and on records. Many of the songs we connect to the holiday season are filled with early childhood memories.
Everyone has a favorite Christmas Carol or song, and like everything related to taste, we don’t always agree. And, back in the day, everyone in the house listened to the same song at the same time — because it was on the record player, or on the radio.
Today, everyone listens to their own private music. I guess the days of the whole family singing to the radio are long gone.
Likewise, people don’t tend to go Christmas caroling these days like they used to. Decades ago, people often gathered in groups and went door to door in certain areas or neighborhoods, singing Christmas carols to spread the holiday spirit.
I find it interesting that an effort has been made in recent years to revive this tradition with the establishment of national Go Caroling Day, which will be held this Friday, December 20th.
Christmas carols are defined simply as traditional songs that celebrate the birth of Jesus, sung ahead of Christmas Day. They are invariably tuneful, memorable, and magnificent.
Christmas carols are part of our culture for several reasons.
Besides celebrating the birth of Jesus, Christmas carols are a way to spread joy and warmth during the winter. We also entertain children with carols and songs.
Additionally, singing is good for us. The Bible reminds us that it is good to sing together in this verse found in Colossians:
“Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God!.” — Colossians 3:16 (The Message)
Not only does it lift our spirits to hear music, but it is also physically great for our bodies when we sing. Research reveals evidence that singing regularly as part of a group can improve health-related quality of life, particularly related to physical health and anxiety levels.
Singing is the perfect way to socialize and exercise our lungs. And whether we sing with a group or not, singing Christmas carols is excellent exercise.
The British Lung Foundation has even identified the top five carols for improving lung health, chosen due to their easy range and drawn-out phrases requiring each breath's extension. They also allow enough pause between each line to allow a full inhale.
The British Lung Foundation tells us that the top five carols we should all be singing this season are Silent Night, Walking in the Winter Wonderland, White Christmas, When a Child is Born, and Let it Snow.
So today at least, we sang Winter Wonderland, and we will be singing Silent Night on December 22 for our Christmas Eve service.
Like everything else about Christmas, the sacred and the secular blend together in the music of the season. Christmas music is a mix of sacred hymns that focus on the story of the birth of Jesus, known as the Nativity, as well as popular secular songs like Frosty the Snowman, Jingle Bells and White Christmas.
Jingle Bells is one of the best-known and most commonly sung American songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont and published in 1857 under the title “The One-Horse Open Sleigh.” Now, ever the researcher, I wanted to learn more about the transportation part of this song. What exactly is a sleigh and when did people ride in them? Here’s what I learned:
People took sleigh rides, back in the day, when the ground was finally frozen and there was snow. People were excited when they could put away their wagons and get out the wood sleds and sleighs. No more mud and ruts to sink in or bounce over in unsprung wagons and carriages, just smooth white snow, the sound of the runners flying silently in the freezing air. Time to go visit under the full moon.
According to one of the articles I read, winter travelers wrapped themselves in blankets, furs, and packed hot bricks to keep warm on rides that might take up to a day with a stop at an inn or friend’s home to warm up mid-day.
The jingle of the bells may have inspired the song, “Jingle Bells,” but the sleigh bells were not just for effect. They were required by law because the sleds traveled so fast and so quietly. Without the bells, blind intersections would be incredibly dangerous.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the song “White Christmas” is the best-selling Christmas song of all time. It first aired during the Kraft Music Hall radio show on December 25, 1941. Bing Crosby sang the song just a few weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The backstory of the song is rather sad as well. It was written by Irving Berlin, a man who, interestingly enough, did not celebrate Christmas as he was Jewish.
Some people believe that the melancholy of the song was a result of Berlin’s sadness over the death of Berlin’s infant son on Christmas Day in 1928. Berlin wrote the song for a musical that eventually morphed into the 1942 classic movie Holiday Inn, and he ended up winning an Academy Award for the song.
In 1954, it was the title track of another Bing Crosby Christmas musical, White Christmas.
When I was in middle school, our music teacher decided to expand our repertoire of Christmas carols by teaching us some carols and songs from other countries. I loved singing O Tannenbaum — which was O Christmas Tree — a German carol. I thought I was cool spewing out the lyrics;
O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum,
Wie trei sind deine Blatter
And I fell in love with the haunting melody of Coventry Carol — a traditional English Christmas Carol. I was entranced with the minor key, and the rather sad sound of the lyrics. And then I studied the lyrics and realized it was the least joyful Christmas Carol I had ever encountered
— the song tells the story of the massacre of the innocents from the Bible — that is where King Herod ordered the killing of all male infants in Bethlehem under the age of two. So the song, Coventry Carol is a lullaby sung by the mothers to their doomed children.
Perhaps that explains why we didn’t include that song in our singalong today, or perhaps why you may have never sung it in your life.
What is your favorite Christmas Carol? I bet you know your mom’s favorite carol because she sang it in your home as you were growing up. Like all songs, Christmas carols have a way of stirring childhood memories and connecting us — to family members — those who are still with us and those we haven’t seen for many years.
I have observed throughout my life that when people hear certain Christmas Carols, they are often emotionally moved — those memories come flooding in, and images that have been stored away slide right into focus. We think fondly of people who have left us.
We may also find ourselves flooded with unusual compassion or understanding of others when we hear or sing one of our favorite Christmas carols. And compassion, kindness, understanding — those are the best things to fill our hearts these days. So, Let the carols continue for a few more days. They seem to have a good effect on us. Amen.
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