Christmas Music 2010

We here at the hedge were asked to recommend a favorite Christmas song this season and explain why it's meaningful to us. I've got two, at totally different ends of the holiday spectrum. (Here's the other one.)

I'm with Patty Griffin when I hear her sing, "I must confess there appears to be/ Way more darkness than light." That's why my favorite religious Christmas carol is 'O Holy Night.' It never fails to remind me that someday, somehow, all will be well: "A thrill of hope; the weary world rejoices/ For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn."

First version, O Holy Night, featuring Aretha Franklin & Billy Preston.

And in case you want to hear it a second time and sing along at the top of your lungs with a black gospel choir, a version by Mariah Carey, below: