Bring the family together for an event of celebration and song by hosting a Carols by Candlelight event. Invite friends and extended family, or round up the household. Print the Carols by Candlelight Booklet (easy booklet printing instructions in the file), bind with staples or ribbon, or write down the titles of your favorite carols.

Light candles and dim the lights, put out some holiday treats, and using accompaniment of your choice or lyric videos online, sing in celebration!

Consider walking your neighborhood, singing and praying blessings over the homes you pass.

How can you involve the youngest in the house? Toddlers love music! Provide your littles with instruments of choice (ones that won’t drive you to distraction), and be sure to include Away in a Manger with the motions listed in our book!

O Come O Come Emmanuel

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel originated over 1,200 years ago as a monastic chant based on the O Antiphons, and ca. 1100 was developed into a Latin hymn. The most popular English translation, by John Mason Neale in 1861, includes the line, “O come, Thou Rod of Jesse.” The original Latin Antiphons, chanted the seven days before Christmas Eve, form an acrostic, the first letter of each spelling, ERO CRAS. Translated, the words mean, “Tomorrow, I will come.”

Enjoy the first choral version with the whole family, or for a more contemplative prayer, the second version pairs music with serenity, and adds some of the original Latin. For our favorite full Latin version, click here. Or try an upbeat version for kids!

The First Nöel

The First Noël can be traced to either ancient Celts or Britons of the 1400s, the word Nöel (or Nowell) meaning Christmas. Reflect on Abraham and Sarah’s long journey guided by faith and the Magi’s travel, guided by a star. At the end of both journeys was the blessing of a child!

Sing along with the soft, light vocal below. For a version especially for younger children, click here!

O Little Town of Bethlehem

O Little Town of Bethlehem, written by Phillips Brooks in 1868, was inspired by his visit to Bethlehem three years earlier. How beautiful the picture of the silent morning stars proclaiming Christ’s birth, the blessing which can come to every human heart.

Join Nat King Cole in song, or find a video especially for kids here.

Silent Night

Silent Night was written by Joseph Mohr in 1816 and first performed two years later at a Christmas Eve mass in Austria. In Josiah’s day, the light of hope had faded. Imagine the contrast between Josiah’s horrifying discovery of laws long broken and Jesus’s peaceful birth, redemption arrived.

Find a lovely sing-along with harmony below! For kids, sing along with this video.

Away in a Manger

“Away in a Manger” is a Christmas carol first published in the late 19th century, with its earliest known version appearing in the 1885 book “Little Children's Book for Schools and Familie” by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America. The carol is widely considered to be of American origin.

Enjoy a Celtic vibe with the song below, or find a children’s version here.

Joy to the World

Joy to the World, written in 1719 by Isaac Watts, was not meant to be a Christmas carol. Rather it interprets Psalm 98 and looks toward the second coming of Christ. How fitting a song as we reflect on the ministry of Zechariah and Elizabeth’s son: to point the way to Jesus.

Enjoy singing the gentle version below, or this version for kids with motions!

O Come, All Ye Faithful

O Come, All Ye Faithful may have been written in its original Latin, Adeste Fideles, as early as the thirteenth century, although the first text published was penned by John Francis Wade in 1751. This carol calls the faithful to worship, recalling a line from the Nicene creed, “God from God, Light from Light.” Traditionally it is the final anthem of the Midnight Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican and leads us to do as the shepherds and adore Christ the Lord.

Celebrate with a traditional choral sing-along. Video for kids here!