Ah Christmas Songs

Christmas Songs I don't Particularly Like:

Cherry Cherry Christmas - never should have been written. I don't have this strong feelings about most songs, but seriously. (P.S. I have a magic touch - no sooner had I typed this out than the next song on the radio - you guessed it! And I did this yesterday...okay, let's talk about "Do You Hear What I Hear" "What Child Is This" and "Africa.")
Mary, Did You Know? - Very good lyrics, yes, and perhaps goes farther than most songs to tell the Nativity / Jesus story, but I just don't like it, and that's that. I think it has to do with years of going to church as a kid and hearing terrible covers of it, usually by people who introduced it as a "wonderful new song they found just this year that they really like and is just so beautiful.' Yeah, it can't be new every year.
Merry Xmas (War Is Over) - mixed feelings here. The song itself is okay and singable and not requiring of changing the channel, but it is so...well...you know...written by hippies.
Christmastime Is Here - Really bad children's choir, not a really good melody...you have to be really sure of yourself to make up a new Christmas song and actually expect it to be a hit...this is yuck.
Santa Baby
Merry Christmas Baby - honestly, it says she is "lit up like a Christmas tree."
God Bless America - okay, I know it's not a Christmas song, but this seems as good a place as any to put it. It is disproportionately popular, and I absolutely can't stand it. It's not that I have a problem with the words...but it is an ugly, repeat U-G-L-Y tune. Yuck.
Christmas in Kansas City - that is not even a real song.

Songs Overplayed:

Chipmunk Christmas Song
Away in a Manger
Have a Holly Jolly Christmas - not a bad song, but it is overplayed. Now, the Burl Ives (is that right?) version I might actually move to the Don't Like list...but that may be due to overplayedness, so I won't.
Train's Song - It may be too early to tell, but I have decided that this song is GREAT if you just hear the chorus, like on the Coca Cola commercial, but even getting through the full song can be a little much, so onto this list it goes! :)
The 12 Days of Christmas - except the funny ones...honestly, the only way to get away with this song anymore is to make it funny. Specific examples are the one that says, "Beer!" and the one where they break out into other songs in the middle, "On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer!"
All I Want for Christmas Is You
Christmas Shoes

Songs I DO Like: (I mean, really really like)

What Child Is This
Do You Hear What I Hear
Hark the Herald Angels Sing - almost any Christmas hymn with a few exceptions
Do They Know It's Christmastime?
Christmas Canon
Wizards of Winter
Anything Mannheim Steamroller
Silver Bells and It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas - make me think of 1940's Christmases....
Where Are You Christmas?
Nobody Wants to Be Alone on Christmas - from my Home Alone soundtrack
That Jamaican style song of "Hark now hear the angels singeth a new king born today and man will live forevermore because of Christmas day..." I like the old Irishy sounding version, too, but the Jamaican one is jammin' ya know?
Polar Express song by Josh Groban - I had better like it, it's in iPod.

The Christmas / Holiday Wars

Okay, so here's my thoughts. I'm not 100% opposed to "Happy Holidays" because there are so many holidays at once. In addition, in the old British sense, "Holiday" could refer to vacation from work, in which case there are multiple "holidays" at this point. But there are some times I think it is carried past nonsense. For instance, why say "Holiday Ham?" If you "holidays" is meant to include Jews, then they would not eat a ham for the holidays. And at this point of the year, (I admit I don't know much about Kwanza, I don't wish to know much, I think it's made up) Hannukah is done and over with! So unless you are referring to Christmas AND New Year's, then Holidays doesn't seem as applicable. I mean, we are two days from Christmas, what other holiday could they be talking about?

But here's another thought - is there really any way to win this? I mean, Christmas has been so commercialized, that even saying that doesn't really mean much. And we now have the "Christmas spirit" instead of Christian giving to thank for charitable contributions and general good cheer around the holidays. In a way, "holiday" is almost more appropriate because the word comes from "Holy-day." If you are fighting a Christmas vs. Holiday war, it's almost like you have to come around from the right flank and say, "I am throwing a Christ-child party." Or "I am going home to celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ." It sounds a little fundamentalist but it at least keeps the real meaning of Christmas alive whereas the word Christmas doesn't necessarily do that anymore.

One last thought, though. Even though Christmas itself has been so commercialized and taken away from the purpose, it is interesting to note that the word is under attack. That means there is still enough of Christ in Christmas to make someone upset. As long as there are carols and ancient symbols (Christmas trees) there will always be opportunities to explain the true meaning of Christmas

I have observed that there are two types of rich people. The first enjoys spreading his ealth: he loves to live in a fine house, surrounded by beautiful furniture, and to eat the most expensive food. The second enjoys keeping his wealth: he would rather live in a howel as long as he possessed a chest full of gold and silver coins, and his greatest pleasure is to sit at a tabile, counting out his money. Which type of rich person can most easily be redeemed? Without doubt it is the first. The rich man who likes spending his money usually enjoys welcoming others into his home, so they can admire his wealth; and he takes pride in welcoming them to his table, to enjoy a sumptuous banquet. That openness to others can, with effort, be transformed into a genuine desire to share his wealth with others. But the miser who hoards his money has a heart that is closed and dark; and it is almost impossible to pry open the door of his heart in order to let the light enter. If a rich man invites me to a banquet, I may accept, hoping to convert him. But the miser never invites anyone into his home or his heart.

-St. John Chrysostom

Idols

We may observe people worshipping statues, and we accuse them of idolatry. We say that these lumps of wood, clay, or metal are lifeless, and so possess no divine qualities. Indeed we find the idea of worshiping statues so bizarre that we even laugh with contempt at those who do it. Yet far more dangerous than statues that are visible are the numerous idols which are invisible. Power is such an idol. Some people who possess powerful personalities desire power for themselves, and in this way make it their idol. Others like to be under the sway of a powerful personality, who makes decisions on their behalf, and in this way releases them from the task of making moral choices for themselves; thus they make the powerful person their idol. Fame is another invisible idol. Some people with the gift of speech love to bask in the warmth of adulation, and so make the admiration of others their idol. Those others find perverse pleasure in treating the gifted speaker as a god, whose every word must be treated as infallible. What I am saying is that the most dangerous idols are not outward objects made of wood and clay, but reside inside the human heart.

-St. John Chrysostom

Sometimes I feel that I have the last problem that St. John talks about. I know how much I admire hearing a gifted speaker or reading an inspiring book. It is hard to hear that perhaps I put more faith in these people than in God - the man who gave them their gifts. How humbling to

Greed

Those who love money are fierce in the pursuit of it, like wild animals pursuing their prey. They do not allow th eties of friendship to restrain them; they betray, cheat, or exploit their closest friends when there is gold and silver to be gained. Nor do they let the chains of conscience inhibit them; they learn to make their consciences as numb as fingers on a cold day. Even members of their own families may be used in their quest for wealth. Their eyes become blind to the suffering they cause, and their ears deaf to the cries of those whose lives are ruined by them. They imagine themselves to be free, purusing their own interests without constraint. Yet in truth they are slaves to their own greed; and this greed only brings them misery. So they bring a double misery into the world, to those they exploit and to themselves. Worst of all, they are even grateful for their own greed; they give thanks that this desire for money motivates their actions and gives purpose to their lives. While they feel this gratitude, they can never escape.

-St. John Chrysostom

O Holy Night

"O holy night the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
'Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh hear the angel voices!
O night divine! O Night when Christ was born!
O night dvine! Oh night, O holy night"

This song is so peaceful and beautiful - if the readio is any indicator, I think it is one of the most beloved Christmas songs. Josh Groban, I think, is the one you will most often hear singing it now. But he also cuts out important parts of the song, in my opinion.

In the first verse, I just noticed this year the phrase, "The soul felt its worth." Wow! What a great way to describe the Christian experience. We know how much God loves us - that He would send his son to die for us, to save us, to allow us to come up and be with him. I would say that means our souls are worth a LOT!

I also like the phrase "weary world." Whenever I think things are really bad, I think about when Jesus came to the world, and I realize that even 2,000 years ago the world was weary. The Jews were a conquered people. Life was hard.

"Truly He taught us to love one another
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother,
And in His name all opression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we.
Let all within us praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord, that ever, ever praise we
Noel! Noel! Oh night, oh night divine!
Noel! Noel! Oh night, oh night divine!"

I don't have anything to comment on the second verse, really. But I do love the line about breaking chains. Consequently, I did a quick internet search, and it doesn't seem that this song was written as a political statement about slavery in the Civil War, although that is what I think about when I hear it. Still - breaking chains is not a concept for days gone by. There are still slaves today - literally, and people enslaved by their own sins, their own trials, their misfortunes. In that sense, everyone is a slave. But more importantly, everyone is our brother.

But truly, I think that I could just sing the words of this song over and over again without getting in to any special "meaning." O Holy Night!

All of us are liable to complain of our work. We grumble at the hardness of our work, at its monotony and dullness, at th elack of time to rest and relax. We moan about how weary we feel. And we wish that we were wealthy enough to be free of work. But just imagine what perpetual leisure actually means. In your mind let me give you a large house in which to live, filled with comfortable furniture. In this house you only need to nod at a servant, and you will be brought dish upon dish of the most delicious food. Outside there is a garden filled with trees and shrubs, which bear sweet-smelling flowers. For a few hours, for a hew days perhaps, you would enjoy being in such a place. But soon you would feel bored and restless . Your bones would become still for lack of exercise. Your stomach would swell with all that food. Your head would ache for lack of anything to stimulate the mind. Your mansion in which work was impossible would seem like a prison. God has designed us to labor for our bread; only in toil can our minds and bodies find contentment.

-St. John Chrysostom