Has Christmas Kitsch Made You Numb? Try A Sufjan Stevens Christmas

It's been hard for me these last couple years to get into Christmas. A combination of sensory overload, growing up in a Christian home, participating in plays, caroling, the works; it can all become rote. April and I also haven't been able to spend Christmas with our families, which is sad. I suppose you can never fully recapture the feeling of Christmas when you're a kid: the slow building crescendo starting sometime during Thanksgiving straight through the end of classes for Christmas break, tinged with memories of decorating a tree, driving around to look at Christmas lights, our golden retreiver having puppies in early december, evening Christmas services, and if I was lucky a sip of egnog spiked with my fathers courvoisier. It would all build to a Christmas morning, where I'd purposely be the last one awake, waiting to hear all my sisters get up and make their wait into the living room, eventually yelling at me to wake up and come open presents. I liked the suspense.

Boy, did I digress into sentimentality. Sorry, I miss my family. Onwards (there is a point to all this, so please stick with me):

Only a few Christmas songs every really moved me, "What Child Is This?" and "Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel" so the combination of the other Christmas songs with what is in my opinion, weak, bland and soul-less arrangements and performances (one only needs to witness JoJo performing for the President to see what I mean) that, with a nice malaise of consumerism, well, my "bah humbug" spirit gets a "bah humbugin".

I suppose its why these songs by Sufjan move me so. They're heartfelt and powerful and, well, are arranged not in a bland contemporary style, but in something creative and nuanced and good.

Josiah, for some reason I can't download any of the three zip's and I've tried multiple ways and with both IE and Firefox...

I currently live in the epicenter of crass commercialism when it comes to Christmas, but I'm more "into" Christmas this year than I think I ever have. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with following the church calender for the first time. Advent, as it is observed by liturgical churches, conveys a real sense of waiting that is truly remarkable. The season mirrors Lent, in that both are seasons of reflection and repentence culminating in a great celebration.

That being said, the Sufjan albums have certainly helped to set the mood.

Don't wanna get stupid, but surely, you have made my Christmas... =*) I've been looking everywhere, searching with every combination of search words, writing e-mails to anyone who could give me a lead... And then, through some random and haphazard Google search, I stumble across your page - my long search ends in one beautiful post, three simple downloads. With a minimum of irony and maximum sincerity: God bless you, sir! =) Merry Christmas, and a happy 2005!

I just need the full tracklisting.. . . help?

I just need the full tracklisting.. . . help?

okay, here goes:

Sufjan Stevens Christmas Albums Tracklistings

Vol. I Hark! Songs for Christmas

01 Silent Night
02 O Come O Come Emmanuel
03 We're Goin' to the Country!
04 Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming
05 It's Christmas! Let's Be Glad
06 Holy, Holy, etc.
07 Amazing Grace

Vol. II Hark! Songs for Christmas

01 Angels We Have Heard On High
02 Put the Lights on the Tree
03 Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
04 I Saw Three Ships
05 Only at Christmas Time
06 Once in David's Royal City
07 Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!
08 What Child Is This Anyway?
09 Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella

Vol. III Ding! Dong! Songs for Christmas

01 O Come, O Come Emmanual
02 Come On! Let's Boogie to the Elf Dance!
03 We Three Kings of Orient Are
04 O Holy Night
05 That Was the Worst Christmas Ever
06 All the King's Horns
07 Ding! Dong!
08 The Friendly Beasts
______________________

whew. thanks for making these available for download! :-)

(actually, that "Emmanual" should probably be spelled "Emmanuel".)

I tried downloading them again this morning and suddenly all is well. It probably has to do with the fact that I'm on my parents computer in the Czech Rep. Thanks for the great tunes!

many thanks. i now have christmas gifts for all of my loved ones. i'm making creative cover art for all three of these!!!

where did you get them?

merry christmas to the Roe family!

I didn't get track 6 with the first download, which was strange. I'm not a religious person, but as it's that time of the year, and Sufjan is one fantastic musician, I thought I'd download the first two of these. Thanks for hosting them.

When I downloaded Volume 3 it was missing tracks 02, 03, 05, and 06. Half the album is missing!

Whoops, I figured out the problem! The file names were just too long and the .mp3 was getting clipped off the end and iTumes wouldn't open them. I shortened the names and added the .mp3 and everything is now fine.

amazing! thanks!

Hey Josiah, I"ve been checking in on your blog peridoically and since I was reaised in the OPC, I can relate to many of your your qualms and strengths of the OPC. I think the OPC just got really old and lost touch with our generation, but it may be coming around as younger leaders are brought into the mix. Thank you sooo much for the Sufjan music. My bet is that there are more quality Christian artists out there, but choose not to pursue it professionally or on a large scale. For some reasons Presbyterians are very passive and scared of marketing and developing artistic talents.

thank you SO much for the sufjan stuff...the Lord said, "Let there be dylan", and then there's this gap with occasional flourishes of true light and then, thank God, he uttered, "Let there be Sufjan."...and He heard the sweet sounds of the Sufjan and knew that it was good.

thanks a lot!! I love Sufjan Stevens's works!

so sweet

I cannot thank you enough for posting those Sufjan Christmas songs. Keep up the good work.

Great music for the holiday season by a great artist - love and peace for sharing the tunes! A beautiful gift that will keep on giving - you should be proud to share such things!

bless your heart for having these up. i have to do a song on christmas eve, and i've been suffering from the kitsch-blues trying to find something.

Thanks so much for these wonderful Sufjan tracks that I can enjoy in the fullness of Yule time cheer!

Thanks so much for these wonderful Sufjan tracks that I can enjoy in the fullness of Yule time cheer!

oy vey.
i spent a week ... a week(!) in grabbing SS Christmas from BT, because only a few folks were hosting. and then i find it here for easy downloading. doh and woot at the same time.

so thanks yule'all.

get it, yule'all?!
look at me making a funny.

oy vey.
i spent a week ... a week(!) in grabbing SS Christmas from BT, because only a few folks were hosting. and then i find it here for easy downloading. doh and woot at the same time.

so thanks yule'all.

get it, yule'all?!
look at me making a funny.

oh, such a guilt. my, post posted twice. i'm going to hel* for that one.

Thank you so much for the amazing downloads!! I am so happy right now. I have been looking all over for these sufjan christmas albums. they are wonderful. they downloaded fast and smooth. keep up the good work:)

Thanks a bazillion for hosting these. They've become some of my favourite work of ole SStevens.
Just read he's got another Christmas Disc coming out on Asthmatic Kitty around TomHanksgiving. Vee can't vait!

Thanks for downloads jon. Michael Kaufmann and Liz Janes go to my church in Indianapolis where I am the music director. You should check out our music site where we post tons of original stuff we write and shoddily record. a new cd is coming out soon. maybe you'll like. www.cardiphonia.com
blessings,
Bruce

Do you know who does Sufan's cover art?

wow, what an emotional roller coaster! super excited to see these up for download! :) super sad that I can't unzip them! :( what am I doing wrong?....