Print Blog
Email a FriendPosted by Anna on Friday, Dec 4, 2009 12:22 AM (EDT):
I love Tim Mcgraw’s “Let it be Christmas.” Good, though secular, lyrics, and a lovely waltz rhythm.
Non-Christmas Music
What's your favorite song?
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Just me on Thursday, December 03, 2009 10:43 PM
Even as we try to keep Advent at our house, there’s no way to avoid the fact that out in the world, we’re smack in the middle of “the holiday season.” You can’t walk into a store without hearing the tinny notes of “Jingle Bells” and similar songs playing over the loudspeaker.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Frosty the snowman as much as the next person. My daughter is a big fan of “snowmans” and last year she had us singing the tune all winter long. But “Frosty the Snowman” is not Christmas music. It’s just a song about winter. Ditto “Jingle Bells” and “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” and most of the other songs you hear on the radio this time of year.
Just mentioning Christmas doesn’t make it a real Christmas song either. (I’m looking at you, “Silver Bells.”) When I do occasionally catch a song being played in public that celebrates Christ’s birth, I’m disproportionately excited. I usually pump a fist in the air!
I will, however, admit that I actually enjoy most of the secular “Christmas” music they play this time of year. And I can enjoy it with a clear conscience because - since it’s not really Christmas music - I’m not cheating on my resolve to avoid celebrating Christ’s birth prematurely.
Personally, I have a soft spot for “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” Do you have a favorite non-Christmas Christmas song?
Image courtesy of Heidi Bratton
Comments
Page 1 of 1 pages
Funny ... I just wrote about this! I like the little-known 1960s song “Christmas in San Francisco” (you can hear it on my blog if you click above.) Even though it’s a remarkably corny song, I like it, maybe because I’m a local gal ... or maybe because I appreciate fine cheese. 
I also like “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.” Always gets me in the spirit!
Posted by Carol Kennedy on Friday, Dec 4, 2009 4:31 AM (EDT):
Well, I am a sucker for “I am dreaming of a White Christmas” and “There’s no place like home for the Holidays”. Also, anything sung by Nat King Cole….he sings some beautiful religious ones too, like “O Holy Night” and “Hark the Herald Angels sing”.
Frankly, I could listen to Christmas music all year long!!
Posted by Sarah in Ottawa on Friday, Dec 4, 2009 5:04 PM (EDT):
Carol,
I ADORE Nat King Cole. My family saves his album until Christmas Eve, though—listening to it signals the beginning of the Christmas season. My absolute favourite carols can both be found on his album—“O Holy Night”, and “A Cradle in Bethlehem” (I love that song like no other).
Posted by Patricia on Friday, Dec 4, 2009 7:57 AM (EDT):
We always enjoy listening to Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” at this time of year. I grew up going to see the ballet every Christmas in Wash., D.C. & it brings back memories of that special time with my parents & siblings. It is such a beautiful masterpiece of music!
Posted by sarah on Friday, Dec 4, 2009 8:09 AM (EDT):
My absolute favourite secular “Christmas” song (this is the way to which I’ve referred to it for years!) is “The Christmas Song”, aka, Chestnuts roasting .... I also adore Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas”, and this year my students will be singing Stevie Wonder’s “What Christmas Means to Me (My Love)”. Arwen, I love your reasoning, so maybe I can enjoy this stuff now, too!
Happy Friday, friends.
That’s funny; I’ve always found “Baby It’s Cold Outside” to be rather creepy. The woman obviously wants to leave, keeps thinking of more reasons she should go, hoping he’ll stop pestering her, and the guy is so pushy about getting her to stay. At least that’s how it feels to me.
Posted by Lina Martin on Friday, Dec 4, 2009 10:39 AM (EDT):
Tracy, I think she’s just playing hard to get
Posted by Tracy on Friday, Dec 4, 2009 10:45 AM (EDT):
Yeah, I’m sure that’s what the writer intended. It just feels icky to me. 
Posted by Karen on Friday, Dec 4, 2009 2:20 PM (EDT):
I tell my husband all the time that it’s the date rape song. I do, however, love the song, but it irritates me that the man can’t just can’t take no for an answer and take her home.
Posted by Molly on Friday, Dec 4, 2009 11:23 AM (EDT):
“Hard Candy Christmas” by Dolly Parton and “Please Come Home for Christmas” - I just realized I must like depressing non-Christmas songs! Am I cheating to say my favorite actual Christmas song is “Do You Hear What I Hear?” , which is not depressing at all
Posted by Heidi A. on Friday, Dec 4, 2009 12:58 PM (EDT):
Well, I wasn’t going to admit this, but since you did… I LOVE “Hard Candy Christmas”. One year as a college student I was going through some rough emotional times, and on a long drive to my relatives’ house for Christmas, the song came on. I bawled!!! Ever since then, it’s been one of my all time favorites, and almost makes me cry every time. (Though in general, I do really like Dolly Parton!)
Posted by munchesmom on Friday, Dec 4, 2009 12:00 PM (EDT):
The first CD I pull out each year is Harry Connick Jr.‘s When My Heart Finds Christmas CD & I love his version of Sleigh Ride. What a great way to start out Christmas at our house!
Posted by Robyn Lee on Friday, Dec 4, 2009 12:20 PM (EDT):
I love Sleigh Ride by Boston Pops. I linked to it over in Resources:
http://www.faithandfamilylive.com/resources/december_2009/
Posted by Suzanne on Friday, Dec 4, 2009 2:16 PM (EDT):
I like ‘We Need a Little Christmas Now’ from the broadway musical ‘Mame’.
Posted by Ginny on Friday, Dec 4, 2009 11:09 PM (EDT):
Hear, hear. “We Need a Little Christmas” always makes me happy. It’s so fabulous & festive!
My favorite songs are: Carol of the Bells, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, Winter Wonderland, Silver Bells, Toyland, Baby it’s Cold outside, Jackson 5 Version of Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Elvis’s Here Comes Santa Claus, The Christmas Song, and the Chipmunks’ Christmas Song. I’m going to stop naming songs now. And to think that I even left off some of the obscure songs and the list of favorites is already so long. I’ll admit it, I’m a Christmas and holiday song junkie.
Posted by Shelly@Sound Mind and Spirit on Friday, Dec 4, 2009 4:07 PM (EDT):
There are so many great non-religious Christmas songs, but my favorite has got to be Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow! Growing up and living on the Gulf Coast of Texas, we rarely saw snow and struggled to understand those picture-perfect snowy Christmas scenes.
Ironically, today, we have our earliest recorded snowfall ever! Dec 4 and in some parts of Houston there is already 2 inches on the ground. It is also the first time we’ve ever had 2 consecutive yeras with snowfall. Of course, nothing will ever come close to that miraculous 2004 Christmas snow that blanketed the Gulf Coast!
Posted by Karen on Friday, Dec 4, 2009 4:25 PM (EDT):
Dominick the Christmas Donkey!!! They don’t play it on the radio in TX though :(
but I do get to hear another favorite- When It’s Christmastime in TX
I like Carol of the Bells and White Christmas along with everyone else but I do enjoy some of the fun and funky Christmas songs out there too.
Posted by Drea @ Monkey Monkey Underpants on Friday, Dec 4, 2009 6:04 PM (EDT):
I can’t get enough of “Grandma Got Ran Over by a Reindeer.” That might sound weird but I love it!
Posted by Denise M on Saturday, Dec 5, 2009 12:07 AM (EDT):
I get a kick out of “I want a hippopotamus for Christmas.” I enjoy “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” by Bing Crosby, “Rockin Around the Christmas Tree” and Audio Adrenaline’s “Little Drummer Boy.” That song rocks! And, while Little Drummer Boy might be about what we can give the newborn King, when it rocks like that, it just doesn’t seem like a Christmas song.
My current secular favorite is Straight No Chaser’s 12 Day of Christmas (which I suppose is cheating since the 12 days do have Catholic significance) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28GUU1YbP_E
Posted by Karen on Sunday, Dec 6, 2009 10:44 PM (EDT):
We watched Straight-No Chaser the other night on PBS and fell in love with them. DD bought 12 days of Christmas and about 6 other of their songs on itunes and we’ve been listening to them ever since. PBS may be incredibly liberal but they have introduced us to some of our favorite aritists; Andre Rieu, Celtic Woman, Three Mo’ Tenors and now Straight-NO Chaser.
Post a Comment
By submitting this form, you give Faith And Family Magazine permission to publish this comment. Comments will be published at our discretion, and may be edited for clarity and length. For best formatting, please limit your response to one paragraph and don't hit "enter" to force line breaks.
