Favorite Christmas Carols

ByKaren Witemeyer
20 Comments


I adore Christmas carols. In fact, for years I harbored a secret fantasy of having my three children and husband join me in full Victorian costume to sing carols for Christmas parties and events. Complete with lamppost! We are actually a very musical family and could easily pull this off, but none of the others seemed quite as enamored by the idea as their mother. Sigh. Such a missed opportunity!

What are your favorite carols? Do you lean toward nostaligic, traditional, modern, fun?

Here are a few of mine (but realize the list would be about 12 pages long if I listed all my favorites).

Favorite Classic Carol – O Holy Night – I love the music, the words, and the spirit of worship entailed. So powerful and epic.

Favorite “Modern” Carol – Mary Did You Know? – I get goosebumps and misty eyes whenever I sing this song. A fiction writer encourages readers step into the lives of characters, and this song is one of the most successful at getting me to imagine what it must have been lie for Mary to “kiss the face of God.”

Favorite Sentimental Carol – Silver Bells – Bing Crosby and Carol Richard sing a duet version of this song that I adore. However, the reason it is sentimental is because my husband and I sang it as a duet at a church Christmas party decades ago. Since I didn’t have a way to find the sheet music, I sat at the CD player with my toy keyboard until I could transcribe all the notes for both parts. Talk about a labor of love!

Favorite Kids Carol – I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas – Even as a grown up, I still love this song. probably because I actually have a collection of hippo items at home. But it’s also just such a fun and silly song. It always puts a smile on my face.

Favorite Christmas Carol Parody – The Restroom Door Said Gentlemen – This one takes a narrow win over the 12 Days of Christmas by Straight No Chaser. The Restroom Door Said Gentlemen, is a parody of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, and it is hysterical if slightly irreverent. My husband and I first heard it when we were young and dating and driving around Dallas (and getting lost) looking at Christmas lights. It came on the radio, and we both laughed to to point of tears. You can listen to it here.

Favorite Uncommon Carol – I Wonder as I Wander – I love songs in minor keys, and this one has such a beautiful, haunting melody as the author speaks of wondering about the amazing birth of Christ.

What are your favorite carols?

In carol-adjacent news, I have two Christmas stories currently available for only $0.99. The first is my Christy Award winning novella – A Texas Christmas Carol.

Purchase here.


The second is a western romance short story inspired by the Twelve Days of Christmas.

Purchase here.


May you have a wonderful Christmas filled with carol singing and book reading!

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For those who love to smile as they read, bestselling author Karen Witemeyer offers warmhearted historical romance with a flair for humor, feisty heroines, and swoon-worthy Texas heroes. Karen is a multiple award-winning author and a firm believer in the power of happy endings. She is an avid cross-stitcher, tea drinker, and gospel hymn singer who makes her home in Abilene, TX with her heroic husband who vanquishes laundry dragons and dirty dish villains whenever she's on deadline. Learn more about Karen and her books at: www.karenwitemeyer.com.

20 Comments

  2. I have a couple of Christmas songs that are off the beaten path:

    * Almost There – Michael W. Smith & Amy Grant – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6MXZ0V7deU
    * Light of Christmas – TobyMac w/Owl City – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpCHpoflMAA
    * We Wish you the Merriest – Bing Crosby & Frank Sinatra – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BthDnxNd7Zk
    * A Hallelujah Christmas – Cloverton-HD – https://vimeo.com/142527218

    Each speak to me in a different way.

  3. “The Restroom Door said Gentleman” is hilarious! I saw a version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” on Instagram that was all about “where does the comma go?” and how that changes the meaning each time!

    I have always loved “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”

  4. I love this. Music has always been important in my life, and I used to carol with my church. When I first went to college I was a French major, so the French carol “Il Est Ne Le Divin Enfant” (He Is Born the Divine Child) always comes to mind. I love “O, Holy Night” and my husband could sing it in French from his high school days. My father’s favorite carol was “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear’, but he also took Latin, which he insisted we take and sang “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” in Latin. He took German in college and taught us “Silent Night” in German. For children’s song I love “It’s a Marshmallow World”. Also, I taught preschool for 8 years before continuing my degree and had to do a Christmas program each year with my children. One I always included was the Christmas alphabet song because they could each hold up a letter as we sang. You probably know this one: C is for the Christ Child born on Christmas day, H for herald angels in the sky, R is my Redeemer, I means Israel, S is for the star that shone so bright, etc. That’s enough from me. Thanks for the head’s up on the Christmas novellas. I just ordered them.

    1. Goodness, Betty. You’re a pro! I sang in choir in college, and each time we sang in a foreign language I felt like such an imposter, sure I was butchering the language. We did enough in Latin, that I eventually felt a little bit confident with that one, but French and German intimidate me. Ha! That alphabet song sounds lovely, and a great way to get the kids involved!

  5. Merry Christmas, Karen! I thoroughly enjoyed this post about Christmas carols. I love them, too. O Holy Night and Mary Did You Know are two of my faves also. 🙂

  7. My favorites are Hark! The Herold Angels Sing, Oh Come Emmanuel, What Child is This, and Joy to the World, ALL the verses 🙂

    1. O Come, O Come Emmanuel is such a rich, Jewish-sounding song, and in a minor key! I love that one. What Child is This is another minor key song I love. Great picks! God Rest Ye Merry, Gentleman is another minor key song along with We Three Kings. I love them all! Do you Hear What I hear is another favorite. OK – I need to stop before I get completely carried away.

  8. I’ll just share my top 4…because there are lots. 😊 Mary Did You Know (My band kids played this one in the Christmas Concert this year, I may have teared up.), The Holly and the Ivy, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, and my sister-in-law sings a beautiful rendition of O Come, O Come Emmanuel that we play when we do Advent at night.

  9. Dear Karen,

    My favorite Christmas Carol is,
    “We 3 Kings”.
    Why, I do not know.
    I’ve always liked it.
    I am traditional all the way.
    The hymns and carols speak to me more so than
    what the churches of today use in worship.

    1. I love the classics! We Three Kings is a wonderful song. I’ve always loved the story of the magi and the way God brought in people from other nations to witness the coming of the Messiah. It shows his love for the entire world!

  10. Merry Christmas! I, too, could list pages of ‘favorite’ Christmas songs. Our church choir sings The Christmas Blessing every year, that is one for goosebumps. I also love Glory to God the Angels Sing, and What Child is This.

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