christmas songs that really touch you

i'm watching the Celtic Thunder christmas special.....and its got me crying again. there's one song that i think was written for them that just gets to me every time. its about legend of the soldiers who stopped the war for christmas eve.....i'm sure we all know the story. but the way its told and the harmonies of these guys' voices just make me cry every time.
there are a few other songs that get to me for different reasons..... one is I'll Be Home for Christmas. that was so much to me when i was away at college and then was even more when i was living in TX (cuz i knew i'd never be 'home' for christmas evber again).

I'm wondering if there are songs that do this to any of you guys?

Oh, Jeane, this is a tear jerker topic! I'll Be Home For Christmas gets me every time. It's so sweet and tender and heartbreakingly wistful. It's from 1943 and, for me, always brings to mind soldiers far from home come December. Why does it still have to be so relevant today? I've been blessed enough to spend most Christmases with my family, but that song always reminds me of all those who can't, for whatever reason.

I often get verklempt listening to Christmas music, especially the family togetherness themed songs. I chalk it up to having lost a brother to suicide just before the holidays. I listen when I feel more resilient, but there are some days that I just can't do it.

Oddly enough it's not Christmas music that gets to me.
Suzzz I will agree with you on "I'll be home for Christmas"
it's the line "if only in my dreams" My favorite Christmas music
is Vivaldi's Gloria, there are other pieces but Vivaldi's Gloria just
soars with hope and joy.

The songs that have reduced me to tears are Angle Band, Your Long
Journey and Amazing Grace. along with Higher Ground.

oh gawd...amazing grace gets to me as well...but it because it was one of my mom's faves...also this one called One Day at a Time.
bc...how are you with stuff like Dr Demento? (Grandma Got RUn over by a Reindeer, I'm getting nothin' for CHristmas etc?)
i rememberanother one when i was living down south...White Christmas....oh gawd how i missed snow (I missed the snow more than i missed my mom)....now i get to be in snow and it still makes me cry to hear White Christmas! (now i'm dreaming of just having a christmas again... a white one would be a bonus!)

Not a real big fan of those Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer songs. I do OK with most of the classics, unless I'm feeling a bit maudlin to begin with.

My uncle, Harry Stewart, did radio comedy back in the 1940s and 1950s using a Swedish dialect and the name Yogi Yorgeson. He recorded such "hits" as "Yingle Bells," among others. That's about the extent of humorous Christmas songs at our house. We like Nat King Cole's Christmas album, and we have some unusual and rare Christmas music that we got from a record club a few years back. My favorite carols are "Away in a Manger" and "Silent Night."

being a nice jewish girl (LOL) this shouldn't be a topic for me but I was raised in a mixed religios hosehold. My mom was Lutheran and brought her german christmas traditions with he as a war bride., so we always had a Christmas tree and advent wreath and all the decorations. She also played her german Christmas albums by the Oberkirschner childrens choir, so now whenever I hear the manhein steamrollers versions of Kling Lutchen Kling, or Stille nacht (silent Night) or especially Stille Stille Steille i tear up. But alot of the traditional carols make me tear up as the melodies are so beautiful Adeste Fideles is one. I also tear up over John denver's Christmas for Cowboys
I just love christmas music, especially the traditional songs . I have over 50 christmas albums, which I start playing the day after Thanksgiving. which reminds me I have to buy Lorena Mckennit's new album

oh lk...ya know, i have hannukah cds (used to play them when i was in the south)!no where near 50 though....maybe 4 or 5!
gretchen.....that is so cool! i've heard your uncle quite often! (and i know i have some of those songs on my christmas cds as well..yeah,i have those too....i used to buy one every year....lk, do you remember when they used to have christmas lps at the gas station...you got them free or for something like 99cents if you bought a certain amount of gas?)

i wonder is Svengoolie has any christmas music??

My mom has two homemade cd's my sis gave her full of christmas parody songs. Parking Spaces is a funny one, the Buttcracker Suite, Pretty Little Dolly, Yellow Snow, Chipmunks Roasting, etc................to name a few. Some are nearly like the original serious songs, until you listen to the lyrics closely.

jeanebellini wrote:i wonder is Svengoolie has any christmas music??

The only one I can think of is "Return to Santa" done to the tune of Elvis Presley's "Return to Sender."

i can just hear that one in my head. Is it on his website? (or should i ask him about it in facebook?)

I don't think I've heard of that one either............

Found it online on a cd at amazon: Christmas Comedy 1. It's the 31st song on the cd.
There's a link so you can hear a snippet of the songs on that cd. I'll have to try it at my mom's building, that computer has sound.

I couldn't find "Return to Santa" but here's another Svengoolie classic, "Oprah Got Run Over by a Reindeer!"

oh gawd....i came into the thread and started hearing voices! sounded familar...then i scrolled down ahd fouhnd sven! thanks so much..i love his parodies!

LOL - I didn't realize the clip was on "autoplay" so I went in and turned that feature off, so you can click it if you want it to play, but if not it won't just start up on its own!

aw,i liked coming in and hearing sven! oh well....if i want to annoy somebody i will open the christmas card a friend who works at the grocery store gave me yesterday...its cats meowing a christmas caRol or two. i opened it last night while all the rescue kitties were sleeping at the foot of the bed and you shoulda seen how fast their heads popped up!(I guess that's a song that really gets to them...or rather 'speaks' to them!)

Hey, JB - I found it! Here you go...Return to Santa!