My Favorite Christmas Songs (Runners Up)

My husband challenged me to come with the five best original Christmas songs released in the past fifty years.

I failed miserably. I couldn’t get down to five. So he changed it to twelve. I could pick twelve favorites.

I still failed. Even when I cheated (by combining multiple songs by one artist into one entry, for instance), I couldn’t limit myself to twelve.

Music is integral to my heart. It is my soul’s native language. And Christmas is a season filled with emotion that can often only be expressed in song.

So I’ll share my list of top twelve songs in a separate post. I did manage to cull it to twelve.

But I have more than twelve songs I just have to share with you. So here are the songs that didn’t quite make the list — but are still songs that stop me in my tracks every time. I hope you enjoy them.

1. River by Joni Mitchell. I almost left this one off. It’s covered soooo often that it’s starting to feel a bit clichéd. But it is such an incredible song that I just couldn’t leave it off.  However, since one of my reasons for writing this list is to share some of my favorites you might not know, I’ll leave this on the Runners Up list.
2. Waiting for St Nick by Larry Murante. This song captures the breathless anticipation of a child waiting for Christmas day.
3. 2000 Miles by Ali & Theo. This is a Canadian duo that only does Christmas music and only releases two songs a year. As far as I know, they don’t tour at all. I first heard their spectacular version of Silent Night on Oceans 98.5 (a Victoria, BC, station I pick up over the Strait of Juan de Fuca). I had a tough time choosing between this song or Let It Fall.
4. Driving Home for Christmas by Chris Rea. You might notice a number of my favorite holiday songs are about wanting to be home at Christmas. I think I’ve felt homesick at Christmas for most of my adult life.
5. Winter Star by Johnny Reid. This is another gem I found through Oceans 98.5.
6. Peace at Last by Hem.
7. Gold and Green by Sugarland.
8. Winter Song by Sarah McLachlan. I can’t decide if my favorite cover is hers or the one by Ali & Theo; this feels very much like a solo song — it’s all about a lonely person longing for a loved one who is far away — but I just love Ali & Theo’s harmonies.