By Catrina Meyer

Polling by Catrina Meyer and Greg Meyer

Every year, as soon as people have digested their turkeys, they are ready to begin the holiday season with their favorite Christmas songs. Music is one of the easiest ways to change and sway emotions, so Christmas Music is one of the most important ways of getting that warm and fuzzy Christmas feeling. Right after the November holiday is over, radio stations begin to mix Christmas songs into their repertoire, and as the December holiday approaches, they only play this type of music. For some people, the radio’s enthusiasm ruins even the best Christmas songs. Senior Alaina Papiro’s response to the above question was, “Christmas songs tend to make me a little angry because they play the same ones over and over,” but then she added, “Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas!” For others the music is the best part of Christmas. An enthusiastic Emily Bousaada responded, “Want to know what my favorite music is? It’s Christmas music! If I had to pick one type of music to listen to for the rest of my life it would be Christmas music. So, I can’t choose! I like them all!”

Music is one of the oldest forms of worship. Almost every type of religious event has music associated with it, across the different world religions. So, it is no surprise that this is where the phenomenon that is Christmas music emerged. It started with the canon of Christian hymns celebrating the coming of Jesus and the religions aspects of the holiday, such as, “Silent Night” and “Angels we have Heard on High.” Now Christmas has become as much a secular holiday as, if not more than, a religious one, so the music has evolved as well. There are countless songs about the largely non-religious (other than his origin as a saint) concept of Santa. This category of Christmas songs includes favorites such as, “Santa Clause is Coming to Town” and “Little Saint Nick.” Other songs are devoted to other Christmas characters that personify popular love of Christmas, such as the song of the misfit reindeer, “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.” Then there are the romantic holiday songs like, “Baby It’s Cold Outside” and the recent pop culture song, “All I Want for Christmas is You.” These songs emphasize the romantic feeling that the holiday season brings to so many people. Finally we are all familiar with the merry Christmas songs that simply wish, form one to another, a merry Christmas. These jolly songs include the famous song “Jingle Bells” (which was originally written for Thanksgiving) and “Silver Bells.”

To further diversify the canon of Christmas music, the American repertoire also includes Christmas songs from different places around the world, such as Jose Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad” and the Hawiian “Mele Kalikimaka.” Finally, the holiday season includes more than just Christmas, and several Hanukkah songs have been popularized, such as the elementary school classic, “Dreidel Dreidel.” When asked what her favorite Christmas song was, PHS senior Bri Silver, responded that she was Jewish. Then, to my modified question, “What is your favorite holiday song,” she responded, “Lots of Latkes.”

This diverse spectrum of holiday songs is clearly represented in the songs that PHS students listed in response to the question “What is your favorite Christmas song?”

4 Santa Clause is Coming to Town- Bruce Springsteen

3 Sleigh Ride

3 Oh Christmas Tree

3 Jingle Bells

2 Silent Night

2 Little Drummer Boy

2 Silver Bells

2 Vive le Vent: The French version of “Jingle Bells” a favorite of the AP French 5 class!

2 Christmas Eve Sarajevo: Featured in this year’s winter concert by the PHS Orchestra

2 Feliz Navidad

2 Baby it’s Cold Outside

2 Little Saint Nick- Beach Boys

2 Blue Christmas- Elvis

2 The Christmas Song: A favorite of the PHS music department, which closes their winter concert every year

Deck the Halls

The First Noel

12 Days of Christmas

Santa Baby

Welcome Christmas: You know, the song that Cindy and all the Whos song on Christmas morning!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Angels We Have Heard on High

Mele Kalikimaka

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

Frosty the Snowman

Christmas Shoes

Do they Know it’s Christmas

Oh Holy Night

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer