Some Fave Christmas Songs

I just thought I'd share a few of my fave songs that I love to listen to this time of year.  I have many fave carols, such as 'Carol of the Bells', 'O Holy Night', anything on the Windham Hill label or by Mannheim Steamroller and just about any carol done by 1940s swing bands and Andy Williams  You'll find no 'Santa Babies' or 'Rockin Around the Christmas Trees' on my Christmas mix tapes.  There are some carols that I just cannot stand so that's why I ended up making my own mix tapes instead of listening to all the radio stations that play carols nonstop from mid-November on.  

Anywho, the ones I've chosen are lesser known, and some are not necessary Christmas songs....they just remind of me of the winter solstice.  Give 'em a listen; you won't be sorry.

Mannheim Steamroller's 'Bring a Torch Jeanette, Isabella'.  This is a beautiful melody.


The absolutely only version of 'Sleigh Ride' worth listening to, as played by the Boston Pops Orchestra and conducted by Arthur Fiedler.  It should be declared the official version.

"Still, Still, Still", which I first heard on a Fred Meyer Christmas commercial when I first moved to Washington in 1999.  I don't know how that carol escaped me all those years but it did.  

This is found on Windham Hill's 'A Winter's Solstice IV'.  It's a beautiful song and one of my favourites, but it makes me weep.  Back in Washington, it made me think of loneliness and sadness during the holidays and that made me cry.  Now when I hear it (and I've been playing it a lot), it makes me think of how much I love Russell, and it still makes me cry but they are happy tears.  The animated snow scenes in this video are awesome.

A beautiful German carol.  I need to learn the German lyrics so I can sing along!!!

This is an old Welsh hymn that I've had a hell of a time tracking down but it is finally making its way onto the internet.  I first heard it in the 1987 movie "A Child's Christmas in Wales" and it is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard in my life.  At the beginning of this, a narrator first reads the words before the Mormon Tabernacle Choir begins to sing.

"Welcoming" by Michael Manring.  Not a Christmas song at all, but I bought the Windham Hill Sampler 1986 album really close to Christmas of 1987 so this song forever reminds me of winter.  Funny story...I was in the record store looking for Grateful Dead albums and the song playing in the store was so incredible that I asked what we were listening to.  The clerk showed me the album cover and told me where to find it. The whole LP is great but this is my fave.