Until recently I was our music session group tsar but ... well, other events have occurred. That's another story.

Anyway, a few years ago I managed to impose my choice of Christmas carols on the busking list:

Hark the Herald Angels Sing, While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks (aka Washed Their Socks), We Three Kings of Orient Are, Ding Dong Merrily on High, Good King Wenceslas, O Little Town of Bethlehem (to the Lewis Redner tune), O Come All Ye Faithful, The Holly and the Ivy, The First Nowell, O Holy Night (surprise, surprise!), and Silent Night.

I deliberately chose traditional carols and not modern songs and I left Jingle Bells and (the neverending) Twelve Days of Christmas off the list.

I would have liked to add a couple more, e.g. Once in Royal David's City but we had to be realistic in putting together a busking list.

Added to a previous comment I made about the BEST carol ever, i.e O Holy Night, I refuse to listen to Mariah Carey's version too. It is possible I could be pleasantly surprised by her version or Celine Dion's version, but I'm not brave enough to give it a go.

Also, I never "got" In the Bleak Midwinter, until I heard Charlotte Ritchie's gentle solo performance with piano accompaniment on the amazingly clever and funny UK TV show called Ghosts. (Even the US version of the show is amazing, mainly because the Brits assisted with the production. Normally US versions of Brit or Oz comedy get lost in translation. Sorry, that's a fight for another day!!! :-D )

So, in summary, there are some carols I absolutely love and others I can't listen to, and a big bunch in between, and mostly my response to them is dictated by the musical interpretation of the performers.