25 Songs of Christmas #19 Mary Did You Know

Mary did you know. Who would have guessed that a song written by a comedian sixteen years ago would today become one of the most recognizable of Christmas tunes? I think it is safe to say that this Christmas season, it will cumulatively be the most viewed Christmas song on youtube (thanks, Penatonix). I would…

25 Songs of Christmas #18 Oh Holy Night

If you were to place yourself in the role of any Christmas character, who would you be? Definitely, growing up, my first answer would have been the little drummer boy. For a long time, it was my favorite Christmas song and I was always a percussionist at heart. These days I would view myself as…

25 Songs of Christmas #17 O Come Emmanuel

Melchior, Caspar (or Gaspar), Balthazar. Do these names ring a bell? According to Catholic tradition, they are the three wise guys who visited Jesus at his birth. They are all scholars, saints, and the kings of Persia, India, and Arabia respectively. While the first and the last of these are made completely from someone’s imagination,…

25 Songs of Christmas #16 Away In A Manger

I don’t know about you, but when I think of Christmas songs, this one is almost certainly one of the first ones to come to mind. Although it isn’t one of my favorites, certainly no collections of Christmas songs would be complete without it. It is also one of the Christmas songs I most love…

25 Songs of Christmas #13 Some Children See Him

Leading up to Christmas, the most common decorations you would see in Brazil would be nativity scenes. These “presépio” are everywhere. They have pageants just as we have in the States but these aren’t confined to kids in a church. They are community affairs much more similar to what you would see at Christmas time…

25 Songs of Christmas #12 Silver Bells

The other day, I noticed that the mall had put up some Christmas decorations by the main entrance. I was shocked. Well, not really. After all, the Christmas lights I saw were crescent moons and stars. Around here, you don’t hear Christmas music when you go into stores to shop. You don’t get Christmas music…

25 Songs of Christmas #11 Precious Lamb of God

For the past couple songs, we have talked about gifts. We talked about the gifts we do and should give. We talked about the gifts we desire. Well, it wouldn’t be Christmas without talking about the greatest gift of all. Like I said at the end of yesterday, that gift came wrapped in swaddling cloth…