…is singing LOUD for all to hear!

Yep, I’m a firm believer in that line from Elf.

And when I realized last year that our children knew very few Christmas carols, the music teacher in me needed to find a remedy for that travesty.

A Christmas Carol a Day!

I made a list of all of the Christmas songs I wanted to make sure they knew, then scheduled one per day to sing to them and, as they get older, teach to them!

Now that Big J is getting older, I also love to share the stories behind the songs when possible as well!

So here is our list for this December…

1. Deck the Halls
2. We Three Kings
3. Let It Snow
4. The First Noel
5. Jingle Bells
6. Good King Wenceslas
7. O Christmas Tree
8. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
9. Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
10. O Little Town of Bethlehem
11. Frosty the Snowman
12. Angels We Have Heard on High
13. The 12 Days of Christmas
14. Away in a Manger
15. Sleigh Ride
16. O Come All Ye Faithful
17. Winter Wonderland
18. O Come, O Come Emmanuel
19. Go Tell It On the Mountain
20. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
21. We Wish You a Merry Christmas
22. O Holy Night
23. It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
24. Silent Night
25. Joy to the World

And a few extras you can throw in here and there: Little Drummer Boy, What Child Is This?, Jingle Bell Rock, Rudolph, Up on the Housetop, Jolly Old St. Nicholas, Carol of the Bells, I Saw Three Ships, The Christmas Song {and I’m sure there are a bunch more I’m forgetting!}

As far as finding the history behind each song…

*Note: Some stories are more interesting than others – I don’t always share the background on every song, but the hymns especially often have beautiful stories to go with them!

We have a beautiful keepsake edition of Then Sings My Soul, a hymn book with sheet music and the stories behind each song. Several of these Christmas carols are included in the book. Sadly, this edition is out of print, but you can still buy the book versions of volume 1 and volume 2 that include just the stories.

And you can always find info on the internet! I don’t have any great sites to share unfortunately, but I often just type “{Song Title} history” into Swagbucks search {if you’re not using this to search, you are missing out on free money!} and find exactly what I need!

Now about that “spreading Christmas cheer” part…

As we walked through Hobby Lobby the other day, I had one child singing “Away in a Manger” and one humming the Darth Vader theme from Star Wars – and it definitely made people smile! Now, if I could just get them both singing the same song at the same time…

Are Christmas carols are a big part of your holiday season? What are your favorites?