Traditional Christmas Carols Getting New Versions

I was listening to the radio the other day when I heard a new version of a traditional Christmas Carol. Immediately I reacted with disgust, it felt as if someone had stepped and spit on something I held close to my heart. I then started thinking about what reasons I had for feeling that way, isn't it natural that things develop? Can I really expect a 100 year old song not to be modified further, after all the original lyrics were probably changed many times up until the current version...

When I sing with my family, we like to bring up the old tunes we all know from childhood. It doesn't matter that we never listen to them on other times of the year, that just increase the happiness I feel when I hear them. They stand for good times and good memories, and in a way I think they hold a special place in my heart.

However, why I got so upset about someone making their own version is another story. I want things to stay how they are on certain elements in my life, and a Christmas carol is one of them. On Christmas shows and concerts I want to hear the original Away in a Manger and The First Noel, not a popular version made to sound like it's from the top 20 list.

At the same time I feel selfish for feeling like this, Christmas carols are not protected from change by the constitution and if it was it would be ridiculous. I suppose it coincides with my own feelings and beliefs, that when I hear a Christmas song I want it to be the way I always remember it as. If not then it won't let me go back in time as I listen to the song, I won't be able to smell delicious foods throughout the years, or see happy faces in my mind as family open presents and rejoice together.

Christmas is a traditional holiday and as we serve the same food year after year, hang up the same stockings, watch the same movies and have the same traditions as when I was a kid, an unknown or modified Christmas Carol does not fit in. It doesn't matter if it's a very good song or artist, for Christmas I want the same old songs that everyone is familiar with.

I suppose this could be called being a Christmas fundamentalist, but no matter the name certain places in life are protected from change by our own sentiments.