Favorite Christmas Carol?

[Joe Biden 2020]

If this should go in the FC or OT boards, then feel free to move it.

For me, my top 3 is this:

O Holy Night
Silent Night
O Little Town of Bethlehem

[Free Speech Enjoyer]

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

[Robert California]

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

Always a good one.

[DC Al Fine]

O Come O Come Emmanuel

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

O Holy Night
Silent Night
Joy To The World

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Good King Wenceslas, largely because as a child my brother Steven was annoyed by it.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

In terms of real Christmas carols (the traditional, religious kind):

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
O Holy Night
Silent Night
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne
There's a Song in the Air
We Three Kings
O Little Town of Bethlehem
That Beautiful Name (although technically not a hymn exclusive to Christmas, it's a popular one for this time of year)
Who is He in Yonder Stall

If you don't know any of these, look them up.

[H. Ross Peron]

Silent Night and O Christmas Tree

[The Mikado]

Ding Dong Merrily On High.

If you stretch the definition of "Carol," "For Unto Us A Child Is Born" from Messiah.

Good King Wenceslas is great too.

[Sic Semper Fascistis]

Petit papa Noël

[Del Tachi]

God Rest Ye Married Gentlemen

[Yeahsayyeah]

For this list of some of my favourite German Christmas Carols (in no particular order) I will make no difference between carols and non-liturgical traditional songs. And none between Christmas and Advent, too.

Tausend Sterne sind ein Dom (which probably isn't a carol in the close sence, but comes from a Christmas cantata of 1946 and has become one of the most popular Christmas folk songs in the GDR/East Germany. Base topic is the contemplative mood at Christmas night.

O Tannenbaum, du trägst ein grünen Zweig ("O fir tree/Christmas tree, you wear a green twig". This is not to mix up with "O Tannenbaum, wie treu sind deine Blätter", which I can't stand, but it has a similar basic topic: the evergreen of the fir tree as a miracle, vitality in bad times, a sign of hope and even of God's grace (this line was changed to the vitality of the soil, that lets the fir tree green, though, in GDR, so I was quite surprised, when I found the reference to god, a few years ago.)
This precious folk song, usually sung at Christmas time, seems to come from Westfalia and maybe the 16th century and is known in many text varieties, so you may also find this under "O Tannenbaum, du bist ein grünes Reis", which more or less means the same. Many people don't like it, because it is in minor, which is not very common for German Christmas Carols

Tochter Zion, freue dich ("Daughter Zion, rejoice"). If you ever wondered why you sometimes can hear the tune of Händel's  „See, the Conqu'ring hero comes“ in December in Germany, this is the reason: A new text, set to the tune by the then-student of theology, Friedrich Heinrich Ranke in 1820.

Ich steh an deiner Krippen hier ("Here I am standing at your manger").
The text is from one of the most important lyricists of Lutheranian church music, Paul Gerhardt, and was first published in 1653. Johann Sebastian Bach set a new tune to the text in 1736 (after having used the old one in his Christmas oratorio). Now that's what I call a hymn.

Maria durch ein Dornwald ging ("Mary went through a forest of thorns")
So let's balance the last one with an Advent carol of Catholic origin. This one is from the Eichsfeld region (split between Thuringia and Lower Saxony today) and was a pilgrimage song, once. It is about the pregnant Mary going through dead barrens, that on this occassion start blooming and flourishing (which is meant as a metaphor for the incarnation of God giving live etc.

Es ist ein Ros entsprungen is probably the one in the list which is best known in the English-speaking world. A riddle, who the rose is, that has sprung up (which is answered differently from Catholics and Protestants each) to an intriguing archaic melody. But be warned: The best known choral setting by Michael Praetorius in 1609, is a bit dull. I would rather go with the 20th century composer Hugo Distler, who has worked out a setting, that is fluent, dense, intense, but nevertheless contemplating.

I think these are my German favourites. As far as carols in English are concerned, these are probably the Wexford Carol and In the bleak midwinter (and "Bring us in good ale" for obvious reasons, but I am not shure, it is really meant for Christmas).

[CatoMinor]

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Hark! the Herald Angel Sings

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Hark! the Harold Angel Sings

You're confused.  Or maybe Harold is the name of the herald angel?

[CatoMinor]

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and Hark! the Harold Angel Sings

You're confused.  Or maybe Harold is the name of the herald angel?

lol oops

[Hifly]

Advent:
O come O come Emmanuel
Lo! He comes with clouds descending
Come thou redeemer of the Earth
Hills of the North Rejoice

Christmas:
O come all ye faithful (with Willcocks descant)
Hark the Herald Angels Sing (with Willcocks descant)
Good King Wenceslas (Reginald Jacques arrangement)
See Amid the Winter's Snow
God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen (again Willcocks)

[Cassius]

Come all ye faithful
Hark the Herald Angels sing
Joy to the World

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Ding Dong Merrily on High
O Come, All Ye Faithful
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

[ZuWo]

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht
Tochter Zion, freue dich
Herbei, oh ihr Gläubigen

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

O Come O Come Emmanuel

Have you heard of the David Crowder Band arrangement

[Joe Biden 2020]

O Come O Come Emmanuel

Have you heard of the David Crowder Band arrangement

I normally don't like contemporary Christian singers doing Christmas because they usually butcher the original hymn, but David Crowder does O Come, O Come Emmanuel beautifully!

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

O Come O Come Emmanuel

Have you heard of the David Crowder Band arrangement

I normally don't like contemporary Christian singers doing Christmas because they usually butcher the original hymn, but David Crowder does O Come, O Come Emmanuel beautifully!

Yes he did.

[DC Al Fine]

O Come O Come Emmanuel

Have you heard of the David Crowder Band arrangement

I normally don't like contemporary Christian singers doing Christmas because they usually butcher the original hymn, but David Crowder does O Come, O Come Emmanuel beautifully!

*Cough* Chris Tomlin *Cough*

[DemPGH]

I like "We Three Kings."

And a host of secular Christmas songs, which are probably not "carols." I like "The Christmas Song," "Baby, It's Cold Outside," "Jingle Bell Rock," and a whole bunch of others. "Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a good one. Definitely not carols, but good holiday music.

[traininthedistance]

Sufjan Stevens' Christmas In The Room is the greatest Xmas song ever written.  I'd go so far as to say it's one of my favorite songs, period.

As far as traditional carols go, I'm partial to "The First Noel".  I man the piano every Christmas Eve when we visit my dad's family, and this is always my favorite one to play.