Carols are such an important part of our Christmas celebrations. We've been listening in our house since the day after Thanksgiving...well, technically I guess we started Thanksgiving morning. I spent years trying to enforce the “December first” rule—no carols before December 1. But it is a battle I've lost to my spouse.
Carols give us a “sentimental feeling”—to quote a secular carol. They remind us of Christmases past, happy memories of family and friends and food and gifts. But the Christian Christmas carols do so much more—they teach theology, mostly good theology, the theology of the incarnation—God come to earth as a human being.