Music is a must in life.
And Christmas is just not Christmas without music. Not for me anyway.
Music can soothe the soul like nothing else. It can create joy and smiles when the heart is heavy. It can create a spot of hope, even in the darkest moments. Music reaches deep within where nothing else can touch.
With that in mind, I’ve decided to share some of my most favorite Christmas carols with you today — songs that I have treasured since my childhood. Maybe hearing some of my favorite music will inspire you to find the music that helps your heart and souls to feel warm.
Let’s start with this one. “Little Drummer Boy”.
The music and harmonies by the Pentatonix are just so incredibly beautiful. The children’s cartoon Christmas Special of “The Little Drummer Boy” was my favorite every year. Did you see it? It was this song that taught me that music can be a very powerful gift.
OR….. if you prefer a more DRUMMING version of Little Drummer Boy, this version of the song really rocks it out. I absolutely love it! I can’t listen to this version without dancing — it’s just that good.
Okay, moving on to more of my favorite songs…..
I cannot remember ever having a Christmas season without singing “The First Noel”. It had to be on the list.
Plus I have a funny memory relating to this song. We had window banners that my mom would put up every year. There were four fuzzy green felt banners, one for each letter of the word Noel. I thought they were wonderful, and I loved the golden fringes at the bottom of each banner. They were a picture of a something beautiful for me.
Our first year of living in Canada, we were having a great day putting up our Christmas decorations. It was a very white and snowy Christmas that year! We were so proud of our little decorated house!
My dad came home, later that afternoon, and had a funny look on his face as he walked through the door. I was sooo proud of our decorations, I didn’t expect that look. He kept chuckling, and giggling, and chuckling some more. Finally he asked my mom about what kind of weird message was she sending out to the world. We all looked at him with confusion. It was the Christmas story after all. What was funny about that?
He took us outside to see what he found so funny.
“Who’s Leon?” He asked, giggling again.
Sure enough, our beautiful fuzzy green and gold Noel window banners had been hung backwards. We were wishing everyone a Happy Leon, not a Christmas Noel!
I laughed and laughed and laughed. I didn’t know any Leon’s, but I still wished them a very Merry Christmas. That year, and every year since. 🙂
*** Please note…. While some Christmas scenes can be painfully triggering to dissociative trauma survivors, please note that no one gets hurt in this video. These children are finding the beauty in Christmas. They are building nice memories.
Another life long favorite of mine is “What Child is This”. I have always found the music and melody of this song to be so so so pretty. For many years, especially in my childhood, I played this song over and over and over on the piano. I found the melody so beautiful and calming. Even now, it reaches deep into my heart. Please have a listen to this incredible version of an already beautiful song.
Okay … one last song, before I go on and on for far too long!
This song, “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” used to feel a little scary to me as a child as it’s written in an unusual minor key for holiday music. However, when I grew up, years later, as an adult, I grew to truly love this version of the song as sung by 4Him. The harmonies and and the creative arrangement gives me goosebumps every single time I listen to it. In fact, 4Him’s Christmas album, Season of Love, has been one of my top favorite Holiday albums for many years. It’s uplifting and beautiful. If you haven’t heard of it, check it out some day.
Hopefully, this song will reach your heart as well! Enjoy the complexity of the music!
Pretty cool, hey?!
I hope my musical walk down memory lane helps to inspire you to let music bring peace and joy to your heart and soul this holiday season.
Dissoci-ACTION Questions re: Music
So….. what are YOUR favorite holiday songs?
What songs do you hold dear to your heart?
What songs bring good memories back for you?
Check with your people inside, and listen to their suggestions. Do you hear what they are saying? Chances are, your insiders will like a wide variety of music, and one part’s favorite song will extremely different from another part’s favorite song. That’s okay! To each his own! Your insiders can have very specific tastes in music — it is yet another example of how they portray themselves as individuals within the bigger DID system.
Take some time today to let your insiders listen to their music. Does it calm them? Does it soothe them? Do they fall into memories? Do they drift away into sleep?
How does music make your Holidays more bearable and more enjoyable?
I hope you let music work it’s magic for you and your system today.
Warmly,
Kathy
Copyright © 2008-2022 Kathy Broady MSW and Discussing Dissociation
we lik the song The Friendly Beasts. it does tel abowt the animuls dat wuz in the stabul war jesis wuz born an the gifs tha gav to the baby. the donky careed mary to befwahem, the cow givd her hay for a bed, the sheep givd wul for a blankit, the duv cood the baby to sleep. its a gud song.
us kids in the famli of MyCircleOfLife
12-26-2019
at church on christmas eve they did the drummer version of the little drummer boy. and the drums and drumsticks lit up every time they pounded. it did be so cool
Ooh Tuck! We would have loved to see the drumsticks light up. That’s really awesome. Thanks for telling us. 🥁😊
Of Course LITTLE DRUMMER BOY 🥁 is our Very favorite one. Yes by King & Country. But yes others like CAROL OF THE BELLS done in bells, the very best. Then someone Loves MARY DID YOU KNOW. Yep, a good one. A little one likes AWAY IN A MANGER. They want to get a soft bed & blanket for him. And someone really giggles at RUDOLPH THE RED NOSE REINDEER! Those are the top 10. Thank you for writing to all of us & helping us think happy thoughts about a holiday. We are some happy & some sad & some confused about Christmas & you get it. We like that about you Kathy. 🧸
I like Away in a Manger because my daughter and I get to sing it together in church for Christmas Eve service. Littles like Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
No no..
no Christmas music! No saf dem pepl pla dat an hurt us bad bad.,
It mean we need to go get hurt gain.
Pweeze Kathy person! No play dos songs wit us! Pweeze!
😳🤯😨😱😨😰🙀👎
https://youtu.be/L8_475FKJWQ
i like to think about what did mary think about and go thru
Hi All,
I was looking around the website in anticipation of getting ready for Christmas and came across this posting. It goes well with some of our talks about music and the arts. Getting ready for Christmas can be a chore (on a lot of different levels) and certainly is not happy for everyone (thinking of you all the Jill People) — I hear that and respect that.
For me, Christmas is a lot of fun because I indulge myself (and my little ones) in Christmas decorations. I also love Christmas music and movies. I can really escape into the magic of the music and movies. It is a break away from my usual life … a fantasy land. It is nice to escape reality.
Christmas songs I like – Little Drummer Boy, Do You Hear What I Hear, Silent Night, Good King Wenceslas, O Come All Ye Faithful, Hark the Herald Angels, O Holy Night, Joy to the World, Jing Bells and for sure, anything Bing Crosby and Rita MacNeil sing on their Christmas albums. Funny thing, I did not grow up with a church background (quite the opposite but that is another story) but I like Christmas carols.
What do others like to listen to?
Does it help you during holiday season?
ME+WE
One of my favorites:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u5UvnKlCTA&index=7&list=RDLRP8d7hhpoQ
And this… oh heavens but I love the a cappella…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sme8N2pzRx8&index=20&list=RDLRP8d7hhpoQ
Wren
11-27-2017
Love Love Love THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY Thx for posting Music!
Christmas music makes us incredibly sad. ? Christmas time is when we lost daddy and mom. The music the funeral had was Christmas music. We do like Mary Did You Know, and other newer music that really doesn’t mention Christmas. We do play that during this time of year.
Thank you so much for sharing this. Your blog really helps me. Thank you for all you do. Merry Christmas. I always loved ‘go tell it on the mountain’ for some reason.
Hello jules1050, and you are very welcome. Merry Christmas to you too. Go Tell it on the Mountain was one from my childhood too! Great song. :). Thanks for sharing.
Warmly,
Kathy
Those are some of my favorite songs too. My most favorites are All is Well, Silent Night, and O Holy night. I like to listen to them on christmas eve when i am with my family and it just gives me peace to know that all of us are together and safe. We also really like the songs on Micheal W Smiths Christmas albums.
Hi Pilgrim,
Hmmmm…. All is Well. I don’t know that song. I’ll have to look that one up. 🙂 The others… Yep, all good ones, absolutely. 🙂
Thanks for your comment, and keep that music playing!
Warmly,
Kathy