7 Quick Takes: Favorite Christmas Songs

7 Quick Takes

Why yes, I am aware that we have one more Sunday of Advent before Christmas starts. šŸ™‚ I am usually teh Scrooge at this time of year because Christmas is a religious holiday for me, and I’m not amused at the secular celebration of it.

— 1 —

“2000 Decembers Ago” sung by Joy Williams. I first heard this on KLOVE yesterday while waiting for my prescriptions at Walgreens. (I was in my car in the drive-thru lane — Walgreens isn’t playing anything this religious in their stores.) I love the words and I love the haunting quality of the music.

— 2 —

“Go Tell It On the Mountain” sung by NEEDTOBREATHE. I love this Christmas carol enough to sing along in the car when it plays. (OK… that isn’t a stretch for me — I sing along to everything.) I love the encouragement to tell aloud the news of Christ’s birth. I also have good memories of being on a Christmas train ride 25 years ago when I first heard it.

— 3 —

“The Huron Carol” sung by the Canadian Tenors. I love how this carol combines the Christmas story with elements of Huron culture. It dates back a few hundred years and was written by a French Jesuit priest (St John de Brebeuf, SJ). It’s also one I remember from attending Midnight Mass with my grandfather.

— 4 —

“Gabriel’s Message” by the Good Shepherd Band. This is a Basque carol and I love its haunting quality. The Good Shepherd Band keeps its plainsong sound and there are beautiful harmonies. The instrumentation is fairly minimal and enhances it rather than detracting from it.

— 5 —

“For Unto Us A Child Is Born” from Handel’s Messiah. I sang the Messiah with the San Jose Symphonic Choir for their “You-Sing-It” one during high school and college though this has been one of my favorite choruses since I was a kid. It’s one that I can sing from memory (for both the soprano and alto parts) and it figured into today’s devotion from Our Daily Bread.

— 6 —

“The Rebel Jesus” sung by Jackson Browne. I first heard this song (and this album) in December 1991 (my family is hugely into the Chieftains and we’ve seen them in concert) and it’s been a favorite of mine since then. It brings to light some of the not so sweet aspect of Jesus’ life at a time of the year when his innocence and sweetness as a baby seems to be the focus. It also brings to light the hypocrisy in our giving and our materialism.

— 7 —

Need guest posters. I’m needing to take a blog break for two weeks while my laptop is off at HP being repaired and while I’ll be visiting family. I’d like to have some people guest post during that time so if you’re interested, email me — jen at grace-filled dot net.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

4 thoughts on “7 Quick Takes: Favorite Christmas Songs

  1. The Angel Gabriel is one of my favorites. It’s a nice version–need to add it to my download list! I’d offer to guest post but I’m frankly not sure I could live up to the promise. šŸ™‚

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