I've been waiting for this day for a while now, and here we are at last! The lucky 13th year of my festive (and nerdy - oh yes, the spreadsheet is going strong!) Christmas music countdown! Isn't it amazing how many unique Christmas songs there are? I have only repeated a handful over these 13 years . . . and there are so many good, never-been-featured-here ones still to come!
Thanks again to my friend, Sarah, for creating and updating a youtube playlist every year. It's such an easy way to listen to all of the songs (and you can find all the old playlists here, for extra listening pleasure!)
Let's get started! Merry, merry!
(I will keep adding to this post every day, and even when I create other posts about our family happenings (ha. ha. I am way behind, but I hope this will be happening this month a bit more. ahem.), you should still be able to find this one at the top of the blog under the "featured post" heading. Let me know if it isn't showing up for you.)
1 December: Just the other day we were listening to a virtual Christmas concert while making dinner. The whole concert was great, but the kids and I especially loved when a bagpipe band played Little Drummer Boy. I love bagpipes! I love Little Drummer Boy! How have I never heard them put together?! It was so fun. And I just seems like the perfect way to kick off this month-long Christmas music celebration. (P.S. That link goes right to the pipes and drums in the middle of the concert, but while you're there you may enjoy listening to the whole thing!)
2 December: Here's a fun little throwback . . . to 2020. Remember when we watched Jimmy Fallon from his home and Dolly Parton was the hero of the year? Wow, it feels like a lifetime ago, that first covid Christmas. Gregg's dad, Paul, recommended this one last year after I had already filled my schedule, but I saved it for this year and it still makes me smile. Good entertainment!
3 December: We have a family date today with Grandma and Grandpa Blanchard and Aunty Heather to go see the Nutcracker at the Egyptian Theater in Ogden, and we're so excited! It's been a while since Cal and I have been, even longer for Gregg, and Sam has never seen it. We've been prepping by learning about Tchiakovsky's celesta and Hoffman's tale and Balanchine's choreography, about trailblazer ballerinas Maria Tallchief and Misty Copeland and Charlotte Nebres. (Homeschool for the win!) We've been listening to the music and reading plenty of versions of the story (check out the one from Jan Brett!). I think we're ready! It just seemed fitting to include something Nutcrackery in my countdown to mark the event.
Then, we watched Elf one evening and the jazzy version of the Suite that plays while Buddy decorates the toy store at night got stuck in my head. All week. I did some searching and found it's by the Brian Setzer Orchestra and the whole song is quite fun. Have you heard the entire arrangement before? Or are you like me and only know the snippet from the movie?
4 December: We've been learning Good King Wenceslas in our morning time this week and I realized that the version I grew up with (good ol' Bing singing about the good ol' king) left out a couple of the verses and didn't give the whole story. So as we read this great picture book depicting the story and then listened to Jane Seymour telling her own version with the Tabernacle Choir, it really came alive for me this year. We learned that Wenceslas was a real king back in the 900s, and he really was good like they sing about. It's a perfect Christmas story of generosity and loving your neighbor and giving to others when you have been given so much. I just love it!
(Also: completely unrelated to Wenceslas, but related to Jane Seymour, we watched her (and her former co-star from Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman days, Joe Lando!) in a Lifetime Christmas movie last night and dare I say it may have been the absolute cheesiest one I've ever seen and I loved every minute. Ha!)
5 December: Ah, Amy Grant. When I hear her voice it takes me back to my late elementary/early middle school years. My friend's mom used to make mix tapes with her friend and somehow I ended up with a couple copies of them. Amy Grant was always included and I came to love her voice and music. And there's no better time to listen to Amy Grant than at Christmas, I say!
Here's one that she made famous, and that I happen to love, even if it's not a traditional Christmas song. (It's pretty traditional to me by now!)
6 December: Sam has been requesting to sing Joy to the World quite often in our morning time this month (he says he loves the bouncy part) and I can't blame him! It's one of my favorites (I know, I know . . . they're all my favorites).
This version from Jim Brickman isn't super bouncy, but it is joyful. Repeat, repeat the sounding joy!
7 December: I don't have a whole lot to say about
today's pick, other than I think it's fun (and this video makes me giggle). I love the backup singer parts most of all, even with how much I love Neil Diamond. Oooh wah oooh.
8 December: I don't know exactly what he's singing (I think
something about shepherds?), but it doesn't even matter, because I just love David Archuleta's smile. I've loved him since Ky had his album and it was on rotation in our house, and I loved him when we got tickets to his concert with the Tabernacle Choir, and I still love him today.
9 December: Today's
Jamaican Noel is just plain fun. I've never heard any other version of it, except by Voice Male, which was our family's favorite a capella group growing up.
10 December: I had never heard this song before last year when Heather introduced it to me. I just love the jazziness of the tune and the cleverness of the rhymes. They make it just
The Merriest!
11 December: I first heard this rendition of
Sussex Carol a few weeks ago on the Music and the Spoken Word broadcast and I loved it and added it to my list right away. I don't think I had ever heard it with words before (usually I listen to the
Jon Schmidt piano solo version.) Today is the day to share it (both! bonus!) with you!
12 December: Today's song is
a classic . . . sung by a classic voice. (Do you think that's really him whistling in the middle?) Gotta have something from Bing Crosby to make it feel like Christmas!
13 December: Just like I love Bing's voice at Christmas, I love Perry Como's voice at Christmas, too. (I may even like him better!) We've been learning
God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen during Christmas school, and while it's not quite as favorite status as Good King Wenceslas, it's still been fun to sing and learn more of the words than I knew before.
14 December: Here's another classic Christmas voice, though more of an 80's classic than a 50's classic. :) I don't know where I first heard him (I don't think it was actually Christmas music - maybe just on the oldies station) but when I finally heard some of his Christmas stuff, it just worked. Here's
The Holly and the Ivy with some fun synthesizer to give a little Mannheim Steamroller vibe.
15 December: Today are Callie's choir concerts/assemblies at the school and some of the songs she has been learning come from
The Polar Express, so we decided to feature one of those as today's song.
16 December: I love a little cool jazz, a la Vince Guaraldi, at Christmastime. But I also love the bigger-band sound of folks like Ella Fitzgerald. We've had quite a good string of snowy days and I'm happy for the blue sky shining through this morning. But when it's winter, the whiter, the better!
Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!
17 December: Something I have loved loved loved about homeschool is singing with the kids at the start of our school day each morning. In December we, of course, have been singing a lot of Christmas songs, some we pick and some that our Christmas School guide has suggested for us (like Good King Wenceslas and God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen that I previously featured). I wasn't planning to include every song we've learned together, but
this one has definitely woven its way into my heart. It's completely brand new to me, which is also delightful (there is so much to learn!). It's got a fun, joyful tune. And the lyrics just perfectly describe the Advent season of waiting and preparing for Jesus (I don't know why but I particularly love the idea of "trim the hearth and set the table" - it just makes me smile!). So, because I've enjoyed this one so much, I'm including
another version. I love the first version with the choir and the organ and the candles in the church because it feels cozy and reminds me how much I love to sing about Christmas with a group. And the second version is really well done and includes more verses (and an Irish whistle!). I hope you love this one as much as I do. People, Look East!
18 December: Today's song,
Children Go Where I Send Thee popped in my head during church this morning. I'm not exactly sure why, honestly. But I spent a minute remembering that we used to sing it in our Adams Elementary school Christmas sing-alongs. And then I thought, wow! We sang about Jesus in school! It didn't seem weird to me growing up, and it was a huge favorite at our caroling time in the lunch room/gym/auditorium when we were kids. I searched and searched youtube for the version with Audra McDonald and the Tabernacle Choir that I got to watch live in the Conference Center way back in 2004, and it just isn't available there for some reason (hence the spotify link above). But, because I'm on a real roll with bonus versions this year (it's my countdown and I can bend my rules whenever I want ;), I'm including this fun version from the
Spelman College Glee Club (who I've never heard of until today in all my searching) just so we can have something on our youtube playlist.
I realize the counting down parts are super similar in idea to The Twelve Days of Christmas (which I usually can't stand and you have never seen on my song-a-day list, but I have to admit I've listened to in its entirety more than once this December since my kids get a kick out of it, so I guess, never say never?) but somehow I love the technique in Children. What can I say? I'm complicated.
19 December: One of my favorite Primary Christmas songs is Stars Were Gleaming, but it's hard to find arrangements of that song. Turns out Infant Holy, Infant Lowly is the same tune, which is what I love most about the songs anyway, but
this version actually sings the words to both Infant and Stars! And it's totally lovely.
21 December: Can you believe I got this far into the month without including
The Carpenters? I can't believe it either! But better late than never. (Fun fact from The Spreadsheet: I've included the Carpenters in every single countdown except 2015 (don't know what happened to me that year!) - they are definitely favorite status at Christmastime!)
22 December: Nat King Cole. Another one of those voices that just sings Christmas. And I just love
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing when it's sung by almost anyone, so today is just a winner all around.
23 December: According to my spreadsheet, I believe The Lower Lights are my longest-running consecutive artist included in the countdown (besides the Tab Choir, of course). I love them. I've loved them since 2012, apparently.
This one is a little more peaceful than some of their others. I love them all.
24 December: Last year, Voctave was the special guest artist(s) for the American Heritage Chorus and Orchestra (sometimes nicknamed the Logan Tabernacle Choir since it is led by Craig Jessop). My mom gets to play bells with the Westminster Bell Choir and they join the choir and orchestra during their big Christmas concerts. So she got to hear Voctave sing every evening for a weekend. She sent me this song to give me a taste of their talent, and I've held it in my back pocket for today.
What a song! Happy Christmas Eve!
25 December: It's here at last! I've loved Laura Osnes's voice since I first heard it a few years ago during her Tabernacle Choir concert. It is as clear as a bell! Merry Christmas!!
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If you just can't wait for more, you could check out my previous countdowns here: (I make no guarantees that the old links will still be working on these posts, but don't forget that Sarah has made
playlists for all of them on youtube!)
20192018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013 (this is for December 1st - I posted each day separately back then)
2012 (this is for December 1st - I posted each day separately back then)
2011 (this is for December 1st - I posted each day separately back then)
2010 (I did a countdown on facebook, but didn't post it on the ol' blog my first year, but thanks to Sarah, she's resurrected it on youtube!)
Wow! You're starting out with a bang! That pipe band was fantastic!!
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