I love Christmas music, but not just any Christmas music. I love the hymns and the songs of the Savior's birth and I like some of the older standards. But some of the Christmas music drives me crazy. I don't want to hear jazzed up versions of the old standards just so the newest pop sensation can sell more albums and it about sends me over the edge to hear Neal Diamond sing O Holy Night. He doesn't even believe in the birth of the Savior and that's seems like such a sellout to me.
One of the songs I love the most is "O Holy Night." No other song's lyrics better represent what we're celebrating--the birth of that special baby that would grow up to save us from sin and sorrow and death. I love it.
When I was a little girl, music was a huge part of our lives. My dad's HUGE theater speaker sent the music throughout the house. We often received records for Christmas. I don't know how Dad and Mom discovered him, but they brought home an album of Ricky Tanner. He was a boy whose voice hadn't changed and I remember my parents saying he could be in the Vienna Boy's Choir. I first learned the words to "O Holy Night" as I sang along with Ricky Tanner. His version is simple and unjazzed, which feels so much more reverent to me. I hope you enjoy it.
And of course I hope you enjoy your Christmas. In the past I've been a teeny bit disappointed when Christmas fell on Sunday, but this year I'm thrilled. We'll spend time as a family, we'll go to church and sing songs of Christmas that celebrate the Savior, we'll come home to a delicious meal and then we'll talk to Bruce from Taiwan. Wow! It just doesn't get better than that.
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