Apparently, it’s now fashionable to hate on the song “Mary, Did You Know?” People say that the song is man-splaining, telling Mary what she already knew. I do agree that Mary is the one who told us all about these things, but I don’t hate the song. It’s actually one of my favorites, especially the version by Pentatonix.

One song that is less endearing to me is The Christmas Shoes by NewSong. It’s so over the top sappy and manipulative. It wants me to feel bad for the boy buying the shoes for his mother who may or may not be dying. Maybe I’m showing my Scrooge, but I think the kid could find better ways of showing his mother how he feels about her rather than buying her a pair of shoes. Maybe like actually spending time with her? Again, don’t hate me too much for not loving this song.

I think there’s a game where each person tries to go the longest without hearing the Christmas Shoes song. It’s less challenging of late because I think they don’t play it nearly as much as they used to 15 or so years ago when it was on the radio somewhere once every 30 minutes.

But I think the one that gets top prize is Little Drummer Boy. Does Mary really need a drum solo? She’s just been through an agonizing delivery and has possibly gotten the baby Jesus down for a nap. How does waking up a sleeping baby count as a gift?

Still, I imagine I will hear all of these songs at least once between now and December 25. Probably even the cheesiest of these Christmas songs will still help to get me into a festive holiday mood and to generate loads of Christmas spirit and all that holly jolly feeling. Yes, even that Christmas Shoes song.