Test your ear for pop artists with 15 versions White Christmas spliced together for a very entertaining trivia mix!  Name all 15 and win a blu-ray copy of White Christmas.  Courtesy of my friends at My Merry Christmas.

Prepare Your Heart for a Great Christmas is on sale now at a special 2-for-$20 price! That’s over 20% off the regular price. Order your copies today and get started on these timely, brief daily devotions when the holidays officially kick off on Thanksgiving Day. The books are great hostess gifts, too!

Followers of this blog know my “Hidden Christmas Tracks” section in which I call out some inspiring, but little known, Christmas songs. However, there are a few wildly popular ones that are an important part of my family’s holiday season, too. Last year’s big song for us was a relatively new classic, “All I want for Christmas is you” by Mariah Carey. Though released in the mid-90’s, that delicious mix of Motown-style pop perfection captured our hearts anew.

This song was the soundtrack to a scene I recently described as one of God’s kaleidoscope moments—when God takes various little pieces of our lives and brings them together in a beautiful way.

Last December, I was driving home, alone, on a bitterly cold night. The chimes that open Mariah’s song rang out from the radio, and I instantly cranked up the volume. My heart filled with joy at this happy song, and I remembered my family’s delighted faces as they’d dance and sing it along with me. Now, you also need to know that I love baseball, and grew up with the Cardinals. My dad and I shared not only a love of baseball, but December birthdays as well. These are important details.

Back to the car. So, I’m not far from home as I tool along, dancing and singing with Mariah and her crew. When I’m alone like this, I can imagine for just a moment that I’m the lead singer belting out this marvelous tune. But even in a fantasy world I know I cannot match Mariah’s range. As she soared to the heights of the song’s final chorus, I pulled my car over and lip-synched with her. I closed my eyes, and missed not a beat as her voice and my heart rose to “all I want for Christmas is…..you!” Tears streamed down my face, as if overflowing straight from my heart. I opened my eyes and saw my two hands, in black leather gloves, pointing heavenward.

At first I thought I’d simply pointed the way to Mariah’s stratospheric note. But then realizations, like tiny bits of colored glass, tumbled into place:
• Black gloves
• Batting gloves
• Albert Pujols after he hits a home run, rounding home and praising God
• Dad

You get it? All I want for Christmas is…You:
• My beautiful family
• My Dad who’s now in heaven
• And God, who is the end of all our desires, and the only true fulfillment of our longing.

See, while the song sings of one woman’s desire for her lover at the holidays, it heralds a much deeper need in all of us—to be loved completely, as God ultimately does. To be loved and known so intimately, that on a bitter cold night on a dark road, God delighted to fashion together the right music and images and message to fill my heart and remind me, once again, how very loved I am.  This is an important message during the holidays for all of us, as we scramble about preoccupied with details and tasks and stressing over gifts and food.  What really matters, throughout the year and particularly at Christmastime, is to remember and experience how very deeply we are loved.

Update: I just discovered that Mariah Carey is releasing her second Christmas album next month. And it includes a “reworked” version of “All I want for Christmas is you.” I gotta ask: How’s she gonna top the original?

I blogged about this earlier, thinking it was a spoof.  But it’s true:  Bob Dylan has released a Christmas music CD.  I suspect only those who really love his work and really love the season will enjoy it.  It’s fun to think of this music icon taking on a few well-worn tunes and giving them a new sound. 

For the Hidden Christmas Tracks list:

Rumor has is Bob Dylan has recorded a Christmas album.  You be the judge!

Hilarious!

Went to lunch at Dewey’s Pizza in Kirkwood, and caught Happy XMas/War is Over on the sound system.  Great reminder that it’s not too early to start blogging again here at GreatChristmasBook.com!  Stay tuned!

Every year, I wait for the Christmas song that I hear as if for the first time.  It was officially past Christmas day when I heard this year’s. 

At church I picked up the hymnal and randomly opened to It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.  Reading the full text of the song, I realized I’d never heard all four verses:

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold:
“Peace on the earth, goodwill to men
From heavens all gracious King!”
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come,
With peaceful wings unfurled;
And still their heavenly music floats
O’er all the weary world:
Above its sad and lowly plains
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever o’er its Babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.

O ye beneath life’s crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow;
Look now, for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing;
Oh rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing.

For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophets seen of old,
When with the ever-circling years
Shall come the time foretold,
When the new heaven and earth shall own
The Prince of Peace, their King,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.

The song spoke to me on many levels, and the one most profoundly was the last verse’s vision of the days to come when a new earth and heaven will proclaim the song the angels sing to us this day. 

A little web research revealed that It Came Upon a Midnight Clear was written by Edmund Hamilton Sears in 1849. The carol started life as a poem written by its author who was a minister living in Massachusetts at the time. The music for It Came Upon A Midnight Clear was composed by American musician Richard Storrs Willis in 1859 who was inspired by the words of the poem.
 

While the standards are playing on the radio, here’s a great Christmas song you won’t hear all the time.

The Root’s Stephen A.  Crockett, Jr. has compiled “an irreverent guide to some Christmas classics.” 

NPR has selected their list of Hidden Christmas Tracks for 2008 at Holiday Music from All Songs Considered.

Maria’s Hidden Christmas Tracks:

Amy Grant loves Christmas.  She’s recorded three holiday CD’s in her career and this year has released a new collection, compiling four new tracks and her favorite songs from her previous CD’s. 

Many artists who achieve her stature as a grammy-winning and multi-platinum selling performer are obliged to add their takes to the traditional favorites to the holiday music lexicon.  Often while listening to Christmas music on the radio, I wonder if the singer really has a heart for the material.  It’s clear Amy does.

What sets Amy apart is that she really means it when she invites us to have a merry little Christmas.  Whether joyful or solemn, Amy’s beautiful pop voice strikes the right tone.  Her heart is in all these songs.  Clearly, her faith and family traditions hold profound meaning for her this time of year.  When we join her in the music, we’re uplifted with the spirit of the season as well.

The new tracks on her current Christmas CD continue her heartfelt holiday spirit.  Of the four contributions, my favorite is I Need a Silent Night.  It gives voice to the unspoken wish of all frazzled moms this time of year:

I need a silent night, a Holy night to hear an angel voice

Through the chaos and the noise I need a midnight clear

A little peace right here to end this crazy day with a silent night

The song features Amy’s daughter Corrina reading the Luke account of the birth of Jesus.  Her sweet voice harkens to the angel Amy wants to hear during her silent night.  Like Linus in A Charlie Brown Christmas, she reminds us of the reason for the season. Perhaps Corrina also reminds us to be attentive to all the angels in our lives, and not get so caught up in the bustle that we brush past them and miss tender moments. 

Amy’s other new tracks include her covers of Jingle Bells, the arrangement made famous by Barbra Streisand, and Count Your Blessings, a tender song from the classic movie White Christmas.  Amy and husband Vince Gill composed Baby, It’s Christmas, a soft jazz, slightly sexy ode to the one you’ve been meeting under the mistletoe. 

Our family has grown up with Amy through her Christmas recordings, and the new collection spans the decades from Tennessee Christmas to Breath of Heaven and A Christmas to Remember.  With her new collection, Amy invites us celebrate the season with her, right where we are.  She’s real, she’s hopeful; her heart is in all her work.  We know Christmas has arrived when Amy’s voice fills our home.

 While the standards are playing on the radio, here’s a great Christmas song you won’t hear all the time. This song transformed my Christmas a couple of years ago, and touches my heart every time I hear it.  (My brother-in-law Mike from Fort Worth, Texas introduced me to it.  Thanks, Mike!) Christmas is Almost Here is powerful on multiple levels.  First, Carly Simon’s lovely, slightly raspy voice captures the longing many experience during the holidays.  Livingston Taylor’s lush verses carry us from Christmas in our homes:

There’s a hand that’s old and rough
And it’s holding on
To one that’s new and small
Whose life has just begun
Hand in hand
Young and old
Calm each others fears
Christmas is almost here

To the first Christmas:  

There’s a rocky road ahead
Two people walk alone
Wondering in the fading light
If they can find their home
When hope is almost gone
A distant light appears
Christmas is almost here 

To the manger in our hearts, longing for love–whether it be romantic, or grieving the loss of a loved one:

Almost here for those in doubt
For those who must remain
Left behind when love goes cold
And shifting life makes change

Almost here for dreamers
Who think that there’s a chance
That they will find their music
And a partner for the dance 

Then, Livingston and Carly weave all these Christmas spots together, as love has found a companion and the wise men follow the star.  Our longing hearts follow the star, too.  The promise of Christmas assures us that our faith is, as is written in Hebrews 11:1–the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. 

There’s a dream that doesn’t die
Now we walk as one
Justice has a gentle hand
And love is like the sun

The darkest night is past
And by the stars we steer
Christmas is almost here
Christmas is almost here

Be sure to listen through to the end; Carly’s last long note will touch your soul! 

Maria’s Hidden Christmas Tracks:

While the standards are playing on the radio, here’s a great Christmas song you won’t hear all the time. 

Billy Joel has thus far avoided the requirement of every successful singer/songwriter:  recording or at least contributing a track to a Christmas CD.  Perhaps he expressed religious reservations because of his Judaism, but Billy Fans are most likely grateful our hero won’t be crooning “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” anytime soon.

The Christmas spirit hasn’t totally eluded Billy Joel, however.  On his hugely successful and perhaps definitive CD, The Nylon Curtain, Billy has graced the holiday with She’s Right On Time.  The track is mostly focused on his relationship with a woman who manages to appear in his life just when he needs her.  The beauty of the song is found in its upbeat, yet mature spirit: the singer is one who has known his share of heartache, and knows life isn’t all it could be…but he’s hoping for better days all the same.  This woman gives him reason for this hope…and reason to deck the halls:

Turn on all the Christmas lights/’Cause baby’s coming home tonight/I can hear her footsteps in the street

Turn the choral music higher/pile more wood upon the fire/that should make the atmosphere complete

I’ve had to wait forever/but better late than never

She’s just in time for me/she’s right on time/she’s right where she should be/she’s right on time

Listening to the song from a faith perspective, I wonder too if the listener might find reason to celebrate our God, who is always right on time?  While we may have our own schedules for how the events of life should transpire, when we look back, we often see how things worked out just the way they needed to…in God’s time.

And it occurred to me/while I set up my Christmas tree/she never missed a cue or lost a beat

Everytime I lost the meter/there she was where I would need her/greeting me with footsteps in the street

I guess I should have known it/she’d find the perfect moment

God is good, all the time.

Maria’s Hidden Christmas Tracks: