Christmas Carols - Good for a Limited Time Only

I love to listen to Christmas carols. But, no matter how much I love the songs, I have to admit that they have a very small window in which they can be enjoyed. No matter how much I like a certain song, after December 25th I don't want to hear it on the radio, or on TV, or in the mall. I know I am not alone in believing this.

I think part of it is that some of these songs are vastly overplayed from the middle of November until Christmas. By December 25th many cannot stand to listen to the songs anymore.

My favorite all-time Christmas carol is O Holy Night. It is purely from a musical point of view as I am not a religious person. I wrote an earlier article called O Holy Night, a Magnificent Christmas Carol that highlights several versions of the song.

I tend to like the more traditional Christmas carols, but I do like some of the poppier songs. A song that has become a favorite of mine is a song from the movie About a Boy called Donna and Blitzen by Badly Drawn Boy. And...of course, I love The Pogues. Fairytale of New York.

Good for a Limited Time Only

The best Christmas carols get you excited about the upcoming holiday, or they may help to enhance your faith. Whatever the reason, I think most of us look forward to hearing these songs on the radio and TV. But, as I have said in the title...they have are good for a limited time only.

The Barenaked Ladies are one of my favorite Canadian bands. I love that this song is so upbeat. It puts a brand new spin on this classic.

According to Wikipedia, this song was first published in 1833. The lyrics are believed to stem from the 15th century.

John McDermott is another Canadian musician. He has an amazing tenor voice. I saw him in concert once and his version of Danny Boy did not leave a dry eye in the place.

This song is from A Charlie Brown Christmas and was written by Lee Mendelson & Vince Guaraldi in 1965.

To me, Christmas isn't Christmas without hearing Andy Williams sing carols. His Christmas specials were a tradition in my family and I miss seeing them.

Silver Bells was written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. It was released in 1951 and was originally recorded by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards.

These five women have the voices of angels. They present traditional and contemporary tunes with a Celtic twist.

I have always loved this song, the chorus is glorious. The tune dates back to the 16th century when it was a French dance song. The English lyrics were written by George Ratcliffe Woodward and published originally in 1924.

I like the Caribbean feel of this song. It has long been one of my favorite Christmas carols. As I said, I am not religious but the music of this song touches me.

I also love the version by Boney M, which I have on my iPod and my iPad.Sadly, it doesn't seem to be available at Amazon in a downloadable version.

This song has recently become a favorite of mine since I heard it in the movie Love, Actually. In that movie the song is sung by Olivia Olsen who was 10-years-old at the time.

The song was written by Mariah Carey and Walter Afanasieff and appeared on her Merry Christmas album in 1994.