Are you fed up of Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You, on repeat? Michael J Tinker comes to the rescue with his top-5 songs for families at Christmas
Michael J Tinker here, songwriter, performer, cricket-lover, back with another top-5 songs for your youth and children, this time for Christmas!
You can stream this playlist right here as you read:
Either on Spotify here, or if you prefer videos, watch here.
Have you got your hot coco? Sitting comfortably in front of the fire? Well… let’s go…
1. Born in Me - JJ Heller
This is the newest song on the list and is absolutely stunning. Produced by Cody Fry and Ben Shive (if you know, you know!) with stunning orchestration and heartfelt lyrics, this is almost too good for Christmas car journeys. You want to put this on a good hi-fi, or plug in the best headphones you have, grab a box of tissues and close your eyes…
2. Come and See - Dumbrocks
You gotta love a bit of smooth jazz at Christmas. Jeremy Smith, aka DumbRocks, is a wonderful songwriter (he actually makes another sneaky appearance in this list…) and this song is no exception. I could have picked anything from this album, so go listen to the whole thing! In this track he draws attention to the craziness of the nativity - we’re so used to the story that we need to be reminded of how utterly bonkers it is… and yet it is true.
3. This is the Christ - Sandra McCracken and Martin Luther
Not really a ‘kids’ song, but Christmas music tends to not fall into those categories. And who doesn’t like a collab between Sandra McCracken and Martin Luther?! Yep - that one. I love that you can hear the movement of the piano pedal on the recording. It feels like Sandra could be singing in your living room. This is one to light the candles to and sway.
4. Mary and Jesus - Randall Goodgame
No list of Christmas songs would be complete without a Randall Goodgame/Slugs&Bugs track. My #1 favourite Christmas album of all time is ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ and I love that Randall pays homage to that record with the styles of these songs. This track is actually an instrumental which I thought would be fun to include, but go listen to the whole record.
Read more:
4 ways to help your children understand the bigger story this Christmas
7 alternative Christmas gift ideas for your youth and children this year
Engaging your child in their Nativity play - even if they’re first lobster!
5. He’s Here - Michael J Tinker
This is one that I co-wrote with the aforementioned Jeremy Smith and is based on Philippians 2 (so, you could sing this one all year round!) It’s one of my favourites that I’ve released, mainly because I just love listening to the soaring vocals of Stephanie Devlin. Stunning. What’s also been fun is hearing kids choirs sing it, particularly a very raucous one at a church in London recently! If your church ends up singing this, why not send me a video? I’d love to hear it.
Have a wonderful, joy-filled, Jesus-focused Christmas, everyone!
