Christmas Songs

Christmas celebrates the birth of one of the greatest visionaries the world has ever seen ? Jesus Christ ? the itinerant, charismatic and indefatigable preacher who laid the foundations of one of the greatest religions. Christ was a messenger of goodwill, peace and love from Heaven. The fact that Christmas celebrates the birth of this heavenly miracle worker and messenger renders this festival the ideal occasion for expressing our love and gratitude for our kith and kin and other loved ones such as our friends and soul mates.

This underscores the importance of Christmas gifts. There are many things and symbols that are associated with this joyous festival. Every country of the world has made its own contribution to this amazing repertoire of myths and symbols, thereby creating an aura of mystique and charm around his festive season. Gifts are beautiful and memorable tokens of the love, warmth and passion in our hearts. Gifts remind the receiver that they have played a key role in adding to the beauty and excitement of the giver?s life, and so they give eloquent expression to the giver?s overwhelming feelings of gratitude, goodwill and faith in the altruistic nature of flesh and blood. And Christmas is the best excuse for expressing our love for our loved ones by exchanging gifts. The moment we think of Christmas gifts, many articles and ideas come rushing to our minds demanding our attention ? cards, trees, songs, carols, cakes, chocolate, sweets and what not.

Christmas songs make great Christmas gifts. The word "carol" is derived from the old French word caroller, which means dancing around in a circle. It was derived from the Latin choraula, which in turn was derived from the Greek choraules.

The Apostles sang songs of praise, many based on the

Psalms. As founders of the churches, their enthusiasm rubbed off on the first churchgoers and inspired their new congregations to let the world know of their great love and passion for God through melodious and devotional hymns and songs. But, unfortunately for us, they did not leave us any copies of the musical scores. One of the earliest known Christmas songs is from the 4th Century, Jesus refulsit omnium, composed by St. Hilary of Poitiers. During the 12th Century, St Francis of Assisi formally introduced Christmas carols to church services. As patron of the arts, he inspired the composers and poets of the day to deliver Christmas music. The lighter joyous Christmas songs were introduced many years later in Renaissance Italy - the 1400s, the time of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo The earliest known copy of an English carol was written by Ritson about 1410. Throughout the years, monks also contributed significantly in composing music themes from the Bible.

When Johannes Gutenberg started his printing press rolling in 1454 copies of carols could be distributed fairly freely. However, keep in mind that Christmas celebrations were suppressed by puritans at that time; Christmas did not become widely popular until late last century. Thus, many of the Christmas carols that we know today are not quoted directly from the Bible and were composed fairly recently.

Perhaps the best known Christmas carol is Silent Night, written in 1818 by an Austrian assistant priest Joseph Mohr. He was told the day before Christmas that the church organ was broken and would not be repaired in time for Christmas Day. Saddened, he sat down to write three stanzas that could be sung by choir to guitar music. "Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht" was heard for the first time at that Midnight Mass in St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria. Today, Silent Night, Holy Night is sung in more than 180 languages by millions of people. The biggest selling Christmas single of all time is Bing Crosby's White Christmas, soundtrack of the holiday movie classic Holiday Inn. More than 30 million copies have been sold. Every Christmas season, record companies rush to release Christian and secular Christmas songs by artists young and old.

Some of the other most popular Christmas songs are ?All I want for Christmas?, ?Dance of the sugar plum fairy?, ?Do you hear what I hear??, ?It?s beginning to look a lot like Christmas?, ?Jingle Bells? and the remixed and rock versions of ?Jingle bells? and ?Oh come all ye faithful?.

When you give CDs or cassettes of Christmas songs as gifts to your loved ones, there are many things you need to take care of. With a little care, you can make your gift the best one that the receiver has ever got from anyone. Some of the things that are to be taken care of are the wrapping of the gifts and also the placing of special, intimate messages inside the gift packages. Very often, we spend astounding amount of money to buy the perfect gift for our loved ones and yet act as the most mean and parsimonious miser when it comes to penning a few words of love and warmth for our loved ones. Remember, a few lines of love coming straight from the deep and mysterious cockles of your heart can work magic in the heart of your loved one. It can rekindle the passion and bring back the romance. Your words add to the beauty of your gift. So never discount the importance of writing a few words for the receiver. You may choose to write a few words on greeting cards and place them strategically inside your gift packet along with the carols or songs or anything else that you are gifting. You may also want to place yummy, nutritious and exotic chocolate bars within the gift packets. Use your imagination; we have all been endowed with a fecund imagination; let it run riot.

Buying songs for a man is a challenge as the man of today takes care of his personal needs and has everything. But before you select the gift make sure you keep in mind the personal taste and interest of a person. For, what is perfect for one man may not be good for another. Also to be taken into consideration is the kind of relationship you share with the recipient and his age. Women are extremely sentimental by nature. Christmas Gifts for them must therefore be selected with lot of care and caution. The carols must reflect your love and thoughtfulness for her and this should never appear to her that it has been bought in a jiffy for the sake formality. To ensure that your Christmas gift is appreciated all your need to do is buy with love. Kids are particularly excited about the Christmas Festival as they are pampered with loads of presents from all their affectionate elders. There are many CDs and cassettes of simple carols and songs in the market for your kids. Most of them come with beautiful multicolor booklets featuring the lyrics of the songs as well as colorful illustrations and exciting games and puzzles.

So, what are you waiting for? Rush to the nearest gift shop and buy carols for your loved one today!