yesterday, the 25 days of christmix came to an end. before beginning, i wasn’t quite sure if i could sustain 25 straight days or, quite frankly, if i would tire of christmas music. as previously stated, i’m just not a huge fan of christmas music, but i found this to be sorta refreshing. i hope you felt the same.

a couple weeks ago, guest blogger bekah caraway submitted sufjan stevens’ o come o come emmanuel…which was on my original schedule for today’s track. it’s my favorite christmas song and i wanted it to culminate the collection, today on christmas.

instead of changing songs, though, i decided to simply change artists. the song is not only beautiful, but really expresses everything that is deeply meaningful to me this time of the year.

i know relatively little about sojourn community church in louisville, kentucky. from what i do know, though, we would have little in common theologically. but this is why i love music so much: because it’s a powerful, unifying force. so several years ago when they released a free christmas album, advent songs, that has become one of my favorite contemporary christmas albums. this song is a beautiful addition to this collection.

we’re nearing the end, friends, and i think it’s time for a traditional(ish) christmas song. i’ve been a fan of kevin max for a very long time. his christmas album, holy night, came out several years ago and has been in regular rotation every christmas since then. this is not only my favorite song from that album, but one of my favorite traditional christmas songs since i was a kid.

i’ve had an up and down relationship with jars of clay. they’ve had albums that sound like the most fresh new sound and they’ve had albums that sound like warmed-over contemporary christian music. but with this song, they’ve definitely shown me everything that is right about them.

this final christmix guest submission comes from charles peters. we “met” via twitter a couple years ago (?) and through shared interests in music and theological points-of-view, we’ve managed to stay in regular conversation. here’s why he submitted this track (complete with a, um, vivid description of laura burhenn…):

the mynabirds are every hipster’s fantasy. pulsating, rugged american tunes that sound like the came from an FM radio from 1973 that are fronted by laura burhenn, a blonde dreamboat with breasts from heaven and a voice from middle earth filtered thru american spirit cigarettes. plus, they stole their name from neil young.

we protestants don’t talk too much about mary, but maybe we should. and while ave maria isn’t, specifically, a christmas song, i’m including it for a couple reasons: 1. more and more, it’s become a part of many traditional advent services and 2. because chris cornell did an amazing version of it. so, let’s talk about mary, shall we?