A nice, non-controversial holiday question..favorite carols?...

as in songs :) not people..

For the sectarian version, I think mine is 'Oh Come All Ye Faithful'
since it has that anthem quality that the whole congregation can sing. I love it in Latin. ('Oh holy Night'for example is a beautiful song which was sung during midnight Mass at St. Patrick's here (I watched it on TV; they always broadcast it live) but they had a tenor from the Metropolitan Opera sing it with the chorus.)

My favorite 'non-sectarian' carol is Nat King Cole's 'Christmas Song'.

I am lately very fond of "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day."

In addition, there's always "Once in Royal David's City," "The Angel Gabriel" (also known as "Gabriel's Message"), "Past Three O'Clock," "Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella," and of course "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming." For Advent, I like "People, Look East."

http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/people_look_east.htm

People, look east. The time is near
Of the crowning of the year.
Make your house fair as you are able,
Trim the hearth and set the table.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the guest, is on the way.

Furrows, be glad. Though earth is bare,
One more seed is planted there:
Give up your strength the seed to nourish,
That in course the flower may flourish.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the rose, is on the way.

Birds, though you long have ceased to build,
Guard the nest that must be filled.
Even the hour when wings are frozen
God for fledging time has chosen.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the bird, is on the way.

Stars, keep the watch. When night is dim
One more light the bowl shall brim,
Shining beyond the frosty weather,
Bright as sun and moon together.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the star, is on the way.

Angels, announce with shouts of mirth
Christ who brings new life to earth.
Set every peak and valley humming
With the word, the Lord is coming.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the Lord, is on the way.

I tend to sing "O Come All Ye Faithful" in the Latin, if just the chorus. But then I also like to say the "Our Father' in Irish...

"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" is another favorite. It echoes the theme of the season that "in the midst of death we are in life"--hope returns at the darkest of hours, even if that hope is years in growing.

One more--"Good King Wenceslas". Not only because it mentions St Stephen's Day, but for that last line

"Therefore, Christians all be sure, wealth or rank possessing; ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing."

"Adeste Fideles" is a great one, and I particularly like "O Little Town of Bethlehem."

But there aren't many Christmas carols I don't like, either secular or religious. Christmas music is happy music, after all. A very old secular one I love is "The Twelve Days of Christmas," more modern ones are "Silver Bells" and "Jingle Bell Rock."

There are two, you know! :-) I think one is preferred in the UK and the other in the States.

Honestly, I always think I have a favorite, until I hear another one and start singing away with it!

I have to admit that I did not like this song at first, but it has grown on me. It's played almost every week during Advent, every year: "O, Come, O Come Emmanuel."

My nonsectarian favorite is "I Wonder as I Wander." I've liked it ever since I was a little kid in the 1960s and heard it on an album of Christmas songs. It was sung by a Metropolitan Opera star (forget her name at the moment), accompanied by a choir called the Young Americans, or something. It is absolutely gorgeous. You don't hear it much (at least I don't, anyway).

Hark The Herald Angels Sing
Joy to the World
O Holy Night
O Come All Ye Faithful.

But O Holy Night should be led by a very good singer, because it's
way too high for most of us, and sounds awful when the congregation
can't reach the notes.

...of a Newman Center Christmas party I attended many years ago. We had a carol sing-along, and one of the priests there had a special fondness for "O Holy Night" and got into the spirit of acting it out -- i.e., falling on his knees. So we all went to our knees every time we got to the chorus. I think someone finally thought to get some hockey kneepads or something for the priest.

But you're right, Matilda. The song does require a well-trained voice, or at least a solid singer.

named Ramon Vazquez sing the lead for 'O holy night' during communion, with the chorus backing him up. I think the congregation wisely left it to them to sing.