Skip to main content

Top 5 Lesser-Known Christmas Songs

I LOVE music, and Kevin calls it my medicine. Listening to some good jams while cleaning the house or cooking dinner always puts me in a better mood.

However, overplayed music has a tendency to diminish the quality of a song and its joy-inducing effects, no matter how carefully crafted its melodies and lyrics. In an effort to continue to love classic Christmas tunes but not listen to them to the point of annoyance, I've explored some lesser-known Christmas albums over the years. I wanted to share my top-five favorite lesser-known Christmas songs:


#5: Winter Moon, by Mindy Gledhill

I'm a sucker for a good love story, especially one during the magic of Christmastime. Christmas Season 2014 is when Kevin and I first started talking about marriage, for we were in the thick of our courtship. Christmastime always gives me the lovey head-over-heels feelies, and this song goes right along with that. 

#4: Christmas Eve, by Celine Dion


This album was my first introduction to Celine Dion's voice, I heard it during my keyboarding class in 8th grade. I've loved it ever since. I love the sound of her voice, but more than that, the beautiful way she talks about how time with her sweetheart is all she wants for Christmas.


#3: I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (this version is sung by Charleene Clossey) 



Before you read any other book, you should get a copy of the story of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in this gorgeously written and illustrated book detailing his life and why he wrote the lyrics. Your local library should have it, but if they don't, I have a copy (and if you know me you can totally borrow it). This song expresses to me the true miracle of Christmas--the atonement of Jesus Christ. Even when tragedies befall us and horrific events like wars and disasters overwhelm society, God is not dead nor doth he sleep. Christ can consecrate our pain to become strength. Good always, always, always trumps evil. We will never be stronger if we give up our faith. Trusting in God, following his commandments, loving other people with all we've got (and as Christ loves them!), that's what yields true happiness.



#2: The First Christmas Story, by The Strike

I love this song, because it tells about Christmas from the experience of a childhood Jesus and his young mother, Mary. I wonder about Jesus and his experience growing up, what it must have been like for him to be reminded of his divine nature and sacred calling as our Redeemer as he listened to his mother's story of his birthday. Some families (such as the lead singer of this song) have a tradition of sharing the birth story of the child celebrating a birthday. This song is written in light of this tradition. 

 #1: Jesus Christ The Apple Tree, by Elizabeth Poston


Words can't share adequately what I feel for this song. I love the lyrics because I love Christ, and I love nature. The analogy of Christ as a Tree, as portrayed in this tune, I feel reflects the analogy also given of Christ in the Book of Mormon, in 1 Nephi 8. He is the tree of life, the source of peace and redemption and true joy. I know that as I follow Him and his teachings, not only this Christmas season but always, I find true spiritual renewal and strength to continue, despite my worldly toils. I know this because I've already seen and tasted and known of the goodness of Jesus in my life experiences.

I hope you enjoy these songs as much as I do! If you have a much-loved lesser-known Christmas song, please include a link below!

<3 Sending Christmas Cheer your way!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Problem with Chick Flicks.

I really, really, really enjoy a select few movies that I willingly watch over and over again. Pride and Prejudice is one of them. You see, Elizabeth's defense of her family, her sense of self respect, her ability to admit that she was wrong and to appreciate Darcy despite all his quirks, and quizzical brow-ness... it's marvelous. My husband doesn't share the sentiment, could you tell? ... and that's okay. There's rare a chick flick I enjoy near as much as I enjoy Pride and Prejudice or A Walk To Remember , and I wanted to explain why. You see, there's more than just a few problems with (many, not all) chick flicks:  (and if you have a chick flick that escapes many of these pitfalls then please oh please leave it's title in the comment section!) The heroine (or suitor) is less than honorable. I have a hard time rooting for a girl to get a gentleman when she's spending her time being scandalously loose with other men ( #thenotebook) . An...
10 comments
Read more

Where's Number Three

A neighbor in her mid-thirties. A woman in her seventies. Their single commonality? They both asked me: Where's number three? I have a son, his name Charlie And then McKay, he's not quite three In my heart, both fit perfectly Yet others ask: Where's number three? Perhaps it's that I miscarried, My spouse's infidelity, The ache of infertility, A battle raging mentally, Illness on a crippling spree, Our family is complete, maybe. The reason's one or more of these, Yet you dare ask: Where's number three? In this question, running free Are judgements, jeering icily "You're not enough, Mik, can't you see? Buck up and give us number three!" I used to flounder, squirm, agree Or curl up small, cry, and plead. With time, I've seen things differently. I won't explain for number three. The questions of maternity Are just between my spouse and me And Parents, guiding Heavenly So please don't ask: Where's number three? Artwork Credit: Be...
4 comments
Read more

Jane Manning James

Who:  Jane Manning James was one of the early members of the restored church of Jesus Christ . She hungered to find God's true church, and when she was a teenager she heard the missionaries teach in her Connecticut home, felt the veracity of the truths they taught, and was baptized a member of Christ's church the following Sunday. During her long life as a member of the church (her membership spanned over 70+ years), she traveled from Connecticut to Nauvoo, Illinois; from Illinois to Winter Quarters, Nebraska; and from Nebraska to Salt Lake City, Utah. She suffered many racial persecutions along her journey (including from other members of the church), endured cracked and bleeding feet along her long journeys on foot, and survived the crop failures that resulted from a cricket infestation in 1848; among many, many other trials. She married Isaac James in 1844 and raised 10 children. How I Learned About Her:  I first learned about Jane during a worldwide broadcast in ...
Post a Comment
Read more