@Miss Rosario Oh Julie Andrews! Any particular song I should listen to?

Hmm. My personal favorite is the first song, "The Sound of Christmas." It's very Christmassy and traditional, and the beginning always makes me think of snow falling. That's the one we listen to every year as we trim the tree. I'm not sure how the tradition started, but I like it!

Has anyone else heard Keith & Kristyn Getty's Joy: An Irish Christmas? My Dad bought it for my Mom. I'm not sure yet if I like it.

SnowAngel

I was reminded the other day of something they used to do at my parents' church, maybe back in the late 90s. (It only lasted a few years, till that music director moved on, I guess).

There's a modern song called "Night of Silence" that sounds wonderful when sung together with "Silent Night." I was able to find plenty of youtube videos with the songs sung one after the other, but finding them sung together seems a lot harder. But it really was very nice.

Hmm. My personal favorite is the first song, "The Sound of Christmas." It's very Christmassy and traditional, and the beginning always makes me think of snow falling. That's the one we listen to every year as we trim the tree. I'm not sure how the tradition started, but I like it!

OH I listened to that song on YouTube and it's very nice!! She has such a wonderful voice! <3

So, let's discuss! What traditions in your home revolve around music?

Wow, that's a loaded question! And as part of it is answered later, I'll just wait for now. Ok?

Do you go caroling?

Of course! Back when I was still in school, I'd go caroling with other choir members at nursing homes and such.

But when I think of caroling, I usually think of the many years I've gone with people from church...

-all piling into just a few cars, and stopping at many places
-trying to harmonize to familiar carols, all bundled up, in the bitter cold
-the people we visited singing along
-people (me included) taking pictures
-having hot chocolate, cider, and cookies when back at church afterwards

This year we're going on the 20th, I believe!

(the forgotten question) What other times do you sing?
Do school christmas concerts, being in a production of "A Christmas Carol", and singing in church during advent/on christmas,. or just any old time at all count?

Listen to music while putting up the Christmas tree?

YES, that is a major tradition around here! When my Dad, sister, and I would set up our tree/when Mom would join us to decorate, we always went between these four cd's...

Two different Amy Grant ones (one of which is the one with Tennessee Christmas on it), a Bing Crosby one, and the Chipmunks one (aka the one that drives me crazy except the "It's a present, Dave. From me, to me!" part ).

I might be forgetting something, but those are the main ones.

What are your favorite songs?

Uhh... this is hard. But I shall try to adequately answer. Keep in mind that some have most likely slipped my mind.

Hymns:
I Wonder as I Wander
Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel
Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
A Great and Mighty Wonder
Angels We Have Heard on High
It Came upon the Midnight Clear
Gentle Mary Laid Her Child
O Little Town of Bethlehem
What Child Is This
Joy to the World
O Holy Night
Silent Night
Away in a Manger (this one, if sung a capella in four-part harmony is EXTRA special)

Childhood Faves:
anything on the cd's mentioned above (under: decorating the tree)
Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Frosty the Snowman

Most played cd's/songs in my room in winter:
1) Billy Gilman's "Classic Christmas"
-fave song: There's a New Kid in Town

2) Lost and Found's "The Lost and Found Christmas Album"
-fave song: Arise, Shine

3) Cd's featuring my friend, David Kempton:
a) Unison's "Together Again"
-fave songs: If I have to pick? The Night Before Christmas and Oh Why? (dedicated to 9/11), both by Davey, himself!
b) Breath of Soul's "Blue Christmas"
-fave songs: Satisfaction and I Heard the Bells

4) Where Are You Christmas? by Faith Hill

5) Christmas Through Your Eyes by Gloria Estefan

6) In Like a Lion (Always Winter) by Relient K

7) Let It Snow by Lucas Grabeel

Other:
1) Songs I like to hear during "A Christmas Carol":
a) Pick a Pocket or Two- Yep, I know it's from "Oliver!"... but we do it here too, and the kid's are just SO GOSH DARN CUTE in it!!!
b) Thank You Very Much- Gets stuck in one's head so easily, that anytime someone says it throughout the year, I start to sing it in my head!
c) December the 25th- It's catchy, and I love when Mr. Fezziwig's wig falls off his head!

2) Songs I like to hear the high school's Madrigal court sing:
a) Oh, shoot... I can't pick. Um... all of them?! If you want specifics, ask... and I'll try and figure it out. Does that work?

3) Songs I like to sing with the Madrigal dinner I'M in this coming weekend?
a) With Gladness, Cheer, and Song
b) The Twelve Days After Christmas
c) We Wish You a Merry Christmas (arranged by John Rutter)
d) Christmastime
e) Gaudete

4) Songs from the youth/college kid christmas service at church this year:
a) Light of the World- I have a solo in this one!!
b) I Celebrate the Day- Ok, we don't sing this one, but it's on the cd. And I WISH we'd do it, 'cause I loves it.

And what does Christmas music mean to you?

Well, seeing as I'm a lifelong music lover who used to think she'd grow up to be a choir teacher, this question is kinda moot. I love (almost) all music, and it all means a great deal to me... in a way that I can't describe.

That said, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas for me without...

1) Singing while decorating the house and tree
2) Singing at church and the playhouse
3) Watching the high school's Madrigal Dinner performances

Does that novel-sized post answer your questions well enough?

edit:
I forgot to put "Mary, Did You Know"! (lyrics by Mark Lowry, music by Buddy Greene) I can't believe I forgot it... I love it! And my church choir even sang it once. (when I was in high school or early college)

Has anyone else heard Keith & Kristyn Getty's Joy: An Irish Christmas? My Dad bought it for my Mom. I'm not sure yet if I like it.

I've heard some of Keith & Kristyn Getty's music, but not their Christmas album.

To be honest, I don't like a lot of contemporary artist's Christmas music. Most of the time, I find it plain disgusting how cheesy a lot of the Christmas music is in mainstream music! I tend to like original Christmas songs by artists, but I think it's really corny when an artist takes an old Christmas hymn and mashes it up into a cheesy song with no harmony and a back-beat, especially when the Christmas carol was a meaningful song!! Though, the sound of an Irish Christmas sounds interesting! I'm into Irish music as well as Irish dance. Let me know what you think of it.

So far, I think my favorite Christmas music is from the group Chanticleer. If you've never heard of them...GO LOOK THEM UP RIGHT NOW BECAUSE THEY ARE AMAZING!!! They're an all men's vocal group. They're not a choir, they're more like an ensemble. There are twelve men in the group and their parts range from bass, to bass-baritone, to baritone, to tenor, to alto, and even soprano. And their voices are flawless.

Their Christmas music is just so, so beautiful and they really capture the spirit, the origin, and the culture of every different type of song.

The Vienna Boys' Choir is another great source for good Christmas music. As far as listening to Christmas music, I definitely appreciate classical artists and singers more. Though I like a few random Christmas songs from various artists like Relient K and Owl City.

I enjoy singing and playing Christmas music more than anything!! Our church is going caroling this Sunday and then our choir just had our Christmas concert and we're planning on going caroling sometime soon too! Squee!

Has anyone else gone caroling around the Christmas season?

Alright, I was listening to this:

So many people have talked about it and recommended it. It's really good!

First off, I love that it's Irish sounding. For IRELAND!!! Seriously, if you like Irish sounding - jig stuff, it's very good.

Second: They kept the traditional feel of the songs, but still kept it a bit more upbeat. Not that traditional music is bad, it's not...but sometimes it's good to hear a new version.

On a side note, her version of "Carol of the Bells" (one of my top favorite songs, btw) Sounds alot like Hayley Westenra's version. There voices sound alot alike.

I really wish I had this CD! (And Sarah McLachlan's Christmas CD, and Hayley Westenra's...lol I love Christmas music!)

Ruby- Joy is pretty good. It's not as Irish sounding as I thought it would be, but still it's pretty good. I like How Suddenly A Baby Cries and Carol of the Bells the best.

My brother bought Kutless's This Is Christmas CD. It's really good. My favorite song is This Is Christmas and then It Came Upon A Midnight Clear. I don't think I would like Beautiful at first, but it's grown on me.

SnowAngel

Here's a nice video, I thought maybe someone would like it. (I just like Leigh Nash, so... )

... r_embedded

grumbles something about not being able to get the stupid video to go into the post...COULD SOMEONE TELL ME HOW?!?! please?I've tries and tried and tried...not working!

AslasChild- To embedded a youtube video, copy and paste the numbers and letters after the v= in the url for the video you want, for the video you posted it's N6ml_YbgJsQ. Then use this code [youtube][/youtube] and it should embedded it. I hope that helps.

This is one of my favorite Christmas songs: Born In Bethlehem by Third Day.

SnowAngel

Okay, so a good friend of mine just got Keith & Kristyn Getty's Joy: An Irish Christmas and she let me hear some of it and I really liked what I heard! I definitely like the fact that the music is Irish, if not as traditional as some Irish music, and that I could dance to a lot of the songs. A lot of them are jigs and reels. Haha! I really liked their "Magnificat" and I can't remember which one has the "Narnian Reel" on it, but that was really pretty too. I think I shall go and purchase this sometime soon!

Please note that our Christmas Countdown threads will be closing on Monday, January 9...but never fear! We look forward to having them again next December.

I used to LOVE Christmas music. I even had a rule that I could only listen to Christmas music between thanksgiving and the New year, and no other music during that time. My favorites were always O Holy Night and Silent Night.
The past few years though I've had a hard time listening to it. A few times a good one would come on the radio and I'd really enjoy it. Most of the time though, it just hurt my ears. It's weird, I hope next year I'll get into it again!