Away in a Manger

Away in a Manger is my favorite Christmas song of all-time. I think you don't hear it on a lot of Christmas albums because its so short. I think most consider it similar, but inferior to, Silent Night. This is very unfair. I don't really think that night was all that silent. In a barn with a bunch of animals, harking the herald angels singing (not sure exactly what hark or herald means, but it seems noisy), little drummer boys, rowdy shepherds... No, not at all silent.

Away in a Manger has problems, too. "No crying he makes". The song writer is assuming that because Jesus was perfect, he couldn't cry. Thats tough to defend emotionally and theologically. I have more problems with "The cattle are lowing". What exactly is lowing? Do cattle low? I have to assume that was a typo and he meant to say "The cattle are mooing". This makes much more sense. Let's go with that. Sing it that way from now on. Thanks.

Others would put "White Christmas" as the all-time top Christmas song. I have problems with the premise. Its about a person in Southern California wishing to be up north so he could have a white Christmas. Its tough to gather up a lot of sympathy for a Southern Californian complaining about their weather. I can't get behind that. How about a Chicagoan singing, "I'm Dreaming of an Above Zero Degree, Non-Blizzard, without Hurricane-Force Wind, Christmas". People can relate with that.