By Billy Davis

Christmas carol “Silent Night” was an early leader in The Panolian’s search for readers’ favorite Christmas songs this week, though numerous other songs were also named.

The Panolian asked its Facebook friends to name and describe their favorite songs, and readers shared their opinions on the popular Web site.

Tonie Rayburn named “What Child is This,” and even knew the year it was written and its author. She correctly stated that William Dix penned the song in 1865.

Dix, an insurance salesman from Scotland, was confined to a bed after a life-threatening illness, which put him into a deep depression. Yet he wrote “What Child is This” along with other hymns after the experience.

“What Child Is This” includes the rousing chorus:

This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
Haste, haste to bring Him laud — the Babe, the Son of Mary.

“Little Drummer Boy” and “O Holy Night,” were among other religious songs cited by Panolian readers.

Donna Murphree-Yawn, Dana Wilson and Damon Plummer cited “Little Drummer Boy” on the Panolian’s wall.  

The Christmas carol describes an empty-handed little boy, summoned by the Magi to see the Christ child, where he plays his drum and Mary nods her approval and the child smiles at him.

“Our God-given callings and gifts are God’s gift to us,” wrote Plummer, who pastors Hosanna Family Worship Center in Pope.

“There are many that have little to give when it comes to earthly treasures but give their all in the things of God,” he added.

Katherine Kennicott Davis, an American music composer, wrote the song in 1941, making it one of few Christmas carols written in the 20th century. It was first recorded in 1955 and was originally known as “Carol of the Drum.”

Delisa McGregory Brown cited “O Holy Night” as her favorite Christmas song.

Bowen Bridges, a sales representative at The Panolian, named the more modern song, “Mary, Did You Know.”

Mark Lowry, best known for his association with Bill Gaither, penned the song in 1984 for a Christmas program at his church. It was first recorded by Michael English in 1992.

On his Facebook posting, Bridges wrote,“I think of the glow on a mother or father’s face when they hold their child for the first time. Their exuberant joy! Then I consider what it must have felt like at that moment… Christ had been born and He was her Son! What joy she must have felt!”

“Silent Night” was cited by Jackie Potts Green and Mary Beth Holloway.

Holloway explained that “Silent Night” was a favorite song since she was a child, and she sang the carol to her three children when they were young.

“That’s how I got them to sleep. It is such a peaceful song,” she wrote.

Among other Christmas songs, Meredith Carlson Fleming cited “Carol of the Bells,” Danielle Bean named “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire,” and Trusten Moore named “The Perfect Tree.”
Moore cited the lyrics:

The perfect tree grew very long ago and it was not decked with silver or with ornaments of gold. Hanging from its branches was a gift for you and me. Jesus laid his life down on a perfect tree.

“Sometimes during the holiday season we get so tied up with all the worldly things and we tend to forget the true reason for the season,” Moore wrote.

Dianne Hadorn rounded out the comments. She described how her young son liked to belt out “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reinder” on Christmas morning, while his grandmother — who hated the song — sat nearby as the family opened gifts.  

“She would look over at me with that evil eye, thinking I put him up to it,” Hadorn wrote.
Randy Brooks wrote the song in 1979 and has been making children happy and grandparents wary ever since.