Percy Faith - Music of Christmas (1959)

Christmas just would not be Christmas without listening to one of my mom's Christmas albums. My mother was an elementary school teacher for 48 years (she retired in 1985) and was either in charge of or helped with her school's annual Christmas pageant. (Are public schools even allowed to have Christmas pageants anymore???) So, she had a nice collection of Christmas albums which she would use for the pageants. I only have one memory - and it's pretty vague - of one of the pageants and it is of a little girl lip-syncing to "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". I was probably only 5 or 6 years old at the time, and I thought she was really singing and was very impressed. The only other thing I remember is that it was cold (December in South Texas can be 70 degrees or 50 degrees), and that my father and I had to stand at the back of the auditorium because there were no available chairs. Oh, and my mom also played the piano for some of the Christmas carols. Anyway, this is one of the few Christmas albums that I have that belonged to my mom because some were destroyed in Hurricane Beulah (1967) and some others were stolen from her classroom. I'm glad this one has survived all these years because it's by Percy Faith and his orchestra, which is probably the orchestra that most reminds me of my mom. Enjoy!

Track listing for Percy Faith - Music of Christmas:

Side 1:
1. Joy to the World
2. Silent Night, Holy Night
3. Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly
4. It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
5. Good King Wenceslas
6. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Side 2:
1. The First Noel
2. Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming; O Little Town of Bethlehem
3. O Holy Night
4. The Holly and The Ivy; Here We Go A-Caroling
5. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
6. O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste Fideles)