The Most Moving Music of Christmas (Opinion)

I found an old Christmas carol book from 1957 at the library bookstore for only a dollar. I would have paid more for it. For years I have had one I thought was an earlier version, but turns out it was a later version, published by Whitman, all the favorite classic Christmas carols in one book. The two books had most if not all of the same songs, it's just that mine, the 1969 version, was more beat up than the one I just bought and the illustrations are different. The older one does not appear to have "Jingle Bells" in it, and the newer one does not appear to have "O Thou Joyful Day" in it. Isn't that interesting? Not surprising at all, but still interesting. We as the human race in the 21st century just keep sliding further and further away from what is righteous and holy. We just do, and you know it's true. Well, it won't stop Jesus from returning, so I will still rejoice. As I was going through my new book, which is an older version, I became very moved by the song called, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." The lyrics of this song were written by Henry W. Longfellow. This has always been the most moving Christmas hymn to me, as I always cry when I get to the third verse where it says, "And in despair I bow'd my head; 'There is no peace on earth,' I said, 'For hate is strong, and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.'" The cry of sadness turns to a cry of joy on verse four, though. "Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: 'God is not dead, nor doth he sleep; The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, With peace on earth, good will to men.'" And then I went and listened to three versions of "O Thou Joyful Day" online and enjoyed all three of them as well. One was piano with lyrics, another was a huge congregation, orchestra and choir in South Africa and the other one by Heintje Simon. Just now I heard one I did not recognize, had to look it up on the album. It was "Good Christian Men, Rejoice." Siri thought it was "Dancing in the Rain" by KJ Rubenstein. Uh, well, no comment. There are just so many beautiful songs of Christmas, such as "Coventry Carol," "Carol of the Bells," and Handel's "Messiah," to name a few. I know I haven't named any of the contemporary ones, but I can't think of many terribly moving ones, other than, perhaps, "Mary, Did You Know?" I realize that everyone has different favorites, different songs, different styles, different artists, all of that. I just respond to songs and sing and play the ones I can figure out, so I don't get terribly excited about who is doing them. To me, having written a lot of songs myself, it's all about the song. It's not about the arrangement, the style, the artist or anything like that, especially when it comes to songs that celebrate the birth of Jesus. Well, I've been sitting here for a long time, and I think I'm about ready to go do something else. I have begun to be inspired by the music of Christmas and I hope to have some more time to work on songs for my next little program coming up on the 15th! That's just a week away and the blankety-blank city of Topeka recently announced some more roadwork directly on my way to where I need to go. I can only hope and pray that they actually do the work "one lane at a time" as the Facebook post said. I will have to call the activities director at the place on Monday (that's when they're starting the work) and ask her how to get there with the road all torn up. They do this all the time around here and we still have the most potholes of any city I've ever lived in. But that's not a very edifying topic, I know, so, again, I will just wrap this up. I hope you are getting into the Christmas spirit because it really is a wonderful thing. Of course, all you devoted believers mayl argue that we should celebrate Christmas all year around, but you know as well as I do, that there is something very special about the holiday season, and I plan to enjoy it to the fullest, not matter who has unfriended me on Facebook because of my politics or because my packages are not arriving when they were supposed to, or anything else that is worrisome. Jesus is the reason for the season and I am so thankful today for everything about him. He becomes more real every day of my life if I will only listen.