Favorite Christmas Songs

A few posts back, I wrote about Christmas songs that I don't care for. This time, I will write about the songs that I always enjoy hearing in December.

• "Joy to the World", Mariah Carey - Ms. Carey brings the emotion to the song that it deserves. With her in the lead, I could repeat the sounding joy over and over again.
• "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", Brenda Lee - Ms. Lee wrote the song, and nobody does it better.
• "Tennessee Christmas", Amy Grant - Some of my family roots are in Tennessee, so I guess that's why I have an affinity for this song. The melody is so appealing musically that I imagine being wrapped up in a blanket and laying by a roaring fire, watching the snow fall on the mountains outside.
• "The Christmas Song", Nat King Cole - If you're thinking of putting out a Christmas album yourself, don't even think about making your own version of this classic. Mr. Cole puts all other renditions to shame.
• "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentleman", Phil Keaggy and Kim Hill - Ms. Hill's alto voice is perfect on this performance.
• "Winter Wonderland", Steve Taylor - Yes, Avalon has a very nice version of this song currently playing on the radio, but Mr. Taylor gives his performance such a playfulness that it's hard to listen to anyone else sing it.
• "Do You Hear What I Hear?", Whitney Houston - You know the line that goes "with a voice as big as the sea"? Ms. Houston's voice comes awfully close.
• "Mary, Did You Know", Michael English - I know that Mark Lowry is co-writer of this song, and he has performed this himself. That being said, he doesn't have the voice of Mr. English.
• "Christmas-Time is Here", Vince Guaraldi - Yes, it's from that classic "A Charlie Brown Christmas."