From O Christmas Tree to Jingle Bells: Our Family's Favorite Christmas Songs

Like many families, we have a variety of songs that touch us. Some are sweet and full of sentiment and others are ones we hear so often we'd love to scream! Music is a big part of our lives and even more so at Christmas. Here are a few of our family's favorite Christmas songs.

My earliest memory of singing Christmas songs is standing by my mother's piano as she taught us the words to "O Tannebaum" or in English, "O Christmas Tree." In keeping with our German heritage, my mother decided to teach us that song just as her mother taught it to her. I think it was that song that piqued my curiosity for researching our family history and traditions. Singing "O Tannebaum" during the Christmas season was not just a way to celebrate the holidays but it was also a piece of our rich familial history. To this day I have a hard time with the English words! My mind hears the tune and immediately I'm transported back to my childhood where those simple German words were sung.

"Jingle Bells" is definitely a Christmas classic. You can't go through the holiday season without singing it at least once! My daughter, Hanna, was old enough to say a few words and was learning basic tunes when Christmas rolled around. So her first "real" song that she learned was "Jingle Bells." And she learned it so well that it was all we heard for the next 10 months! Even though she drove us crazy for awhile with it, "Jingle Bells" will always be special to me because it was the first song my daughter sang for me. In fact, she is playing in her room right now and humming it!