Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780310115908)

Incredible stories and the inspiration behind the most popular Christmas songs, including Jingle Bells, Mary, Did You Know?, The First Noel, O Holy Night, Silver Bells, and White Christmas.

Ringing along with the chimes in Silver Bells. Laughing along with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Holding a candle while singing a chorus of Silent Night. The songs that you've sung since you were a child continue to bring Christmas to life each year. Now, you'll learn how your favorite Christmas songs came to be. Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas reveals the surprising and fascinating origins of secular and religious Christmas hits. Here are spiritual insights, heartwarming stories, and tales of the humble men and women of decades past who wrote what remain the most beloved Christmas songs today. Discover how:

• Iconic artists such as Judy Garland and Nat King Cole were influenced and inspired to record instant classics like Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and The Christmas Song.
• God-inspired words given to an unlikely musician became Mary, Did You Know?
• One of the oldest Christmas songs still sung today, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, changed from a hymn sung in Latin only in Catholic masses to a carol embraced by every Christian denomination in the world.

The songs of Christmas reveal the true joy to be found in the celebration of Christ's birth and the spirit of the season that is anticipated each year all over the world. These stories will warm your heart and bring extra significance to the carols you sing each December.