EDITOR’S NOTE: If you’d like to share your favorite holiday song, we’d like to hear it. Send us a link to your favorite tune, along with your name, what town you’re from, and why this song means something to you. Email it us at Larry@RichlandSource.com 

MANSFIELD — It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, and the holiday songs are filling the air.

Even those who ho hum them will still hum them.

Sometimes we don’t understand the power these tunes carry. In the George Clooney-Matt Damon film Monuments Men, Bill Murray’s character shows the power of such a song. Set in World War II near the front, he gets a package from home that includes a recording from his daughter.

She sings Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and its impact resonates with all who hear it, despite the carnage of war — but most especially Murray’s character in the film’s most poignant scene.

So, we asked our staff a simple question, what’s your favorite sound of the season and why? Here were our responses:

Larry Phillips, Editor:

For me, it’s John Denver’s Aspenglow. It’s one of those songs you rarely hear on the radio, so it’s still fresh despite approaching 45 years old. It’s also got a perfect mix of sentimentality and wistfulness. When I was a kid in the winter of 1976-77, we lived in the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming just outside the East Gate of Yellowstone National Park. Aspenglow was released just a year earlier and it seemed a perfect fit for that region, and it takes me back there every time.

Carl Hunnell, City Editor:

Silent Night is a beautiful song composed in 1818 by Franz Zaver Gruber with lyrics by Joseph Mohr. It was translated to English in 1859. It was sung by English and German troops during the Christmas Truce of World War I in 1914. The soldiers from both armies emerged from their trenches to greet one another, sing Silent Night, eat and drink. The song has great memory and history attached to it.

Brittany Schock, Engagement & Solutions Editor:

One of the best things about music is how it can instantly transport you back to a moment in time. That’s why one of my very favorite Christmas songs is “Christmas Time Is Here,” specifically the version from “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” It’s not even so much the song, but the memories it provokes – going sledding with my dad, building snow forts in the backyard, coming back inside to drink hot chocolate and watch one of our very favorite movies together (the recorded version on VHS, where Dad even paused recording during the commercials – that’s real love, guys). This song brings me right back to the very best parts of my childhood.

Dillon Carr, Ashland Source reporter:

I love the whole album, but if I were to choose a favorite tune on “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” it would have to be “Christmas Time is Here.” I don’t really know why or how or when, but at some point putting on this album became a family tradition while hanging decorations around the house. It’s a thing. We turn it on, carry up the musty boxes full of decorations, pour some nog and get at it. The whole album is just soothing, nostalgic and perfect for the occasion. I choose “Christmas Time is Here” only because I find myself whistling or humming the melody well after we’re done hanging decorations. A close second is “Linus and Lucy.” My wife taught me the bass line to that song on the piano a while back and it — along with Mary had a Little Lamb — remains the only song I know how to play on the keys.

Emma Davis, Report for America reporter at Ashland Source and Knox Pages:

The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker is the embodiment of the holiday season for me. I am transported backstage into the theater I grew up performing in whenever it comes on. Nutcracker season had long marked the beginning of the holidays, and it always accompanied the gathering of family and friends to celebrate the triumph of hard work.

Cheryl Splain, Knox Pages Correspondent:

Angels from the Realms of Glory is my favorite because when you listen to all seven verses, it tells the whole story of Christ: from creation, his birth, his gift of salvation, to the day he returns and every knee shall bow before him.

Angie Cirone, Director of Journalism Sustainability:

Bing Crosby What Child is This/The Holly and the Ivy melody on vinyl. I have a holly tree in my yard, so I look out the window and reflect on the season.

Curt Conrad, Sports Reporter:

It’s not a traditional holiday song, but I could listen to ‘Christmas’ by Blues Traveler over and over again. The holiday season hits us all a little differently, and for whatever the reason this song really speaks to me. It’s rich and complex and really builds. If you haven’t heard it, I’d suggest you give it a listen.

Katie Ellington, Richland Source Reporter:

It’s almost impossible for me to pick a favorite Christmas song, but since my boss is forcing me to, I’d have to say O Holy Night. There are so many classics that speak to the cheer and festivities of the holiday season, but few capture the joy, hope and reverence it inspires. My favorite lyrics are in the final verse, where the poet describes God’s vision for a redeemed world, one characterized by love, peace and freedom from oppression. We need that kind of hope more now than ever. In addition to fantastic lyrics, the musical half of this song is undeniably gorgeous. And who doesn’t love trying to belt that high note?

Grant Pepper, Knox Pages Reporter:

This song, You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch resonates with me because I’ve always been drawn to the Grinch’s dark and mysterious character.