5 Christmas songs Jewish people love hearing non-stop for an entire month

Christmas is for everyone. No matter how hard you try, everyone has to deal with the most wonderful time of the year. The music of Christmas is so delightfully unavoidable that you can’t help but get those catchy tunes in your head, even if you’re a part of a religion and cultural group that denies the validity of its theological underpinnings. Here are 5 Christmas songs Jews love to hear playing over-and-over again starting basically on the day after Halloween until well past New Years.

1. Little Drummer Boy

The heart-warming image of an ancient Israelite child who understandably wants to offer the gift of incessant banging to the sensitive ears of a newborn baby false King-God is the perfect metaphor for the season. Jewish people the world over have said to themselves “pa-rum-pa-pum-pum” at one point or another, whether in the shower, at work, or faced with the insanely long lines at the mall. How can you not?
2. Silent Night

The sentiment behind a night for once actually being silent is aspirational for Jews at this time of the year. What better way to think about peace and quiet in lieu of actual peace and quiet than to think of a sleeping Jewish boy, who will one day grow up to be the leader of a religious movement that takes Hashem to be somehow both his Father and himself. It’s a miracle, I guess!
3. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!

The perfect song to listen to while you eat Chinese food and try not to hate your friends just because they keep mispronouncing the word Hanukkah.
4. All I Want for Christmas is You, by Mariah Carey

Who doesn’t love Mariah Carey? From her impossibly high notes, to her Shiks-appeal, every Jewish person has fond feelings toward this 90’s diva, and thanks her for not doing a cover of some other song everyone’s heard literally a million times.
5. Here We Come A-Wassailing

The appeal of this song comes from the fact that “a-wassailing” is very close to a Yiddish word that means “stupid boat.” Imagine listening to this song and hearing “Here we come stupid boat, Among the leaves so green.” You’d laugh inside. Actually, no one knows what “a-wassailing” really means, and I totally just made up the Yiddish thing, but now you’ll forever think of the word “stupid boat” every time you hear that song. You’re welcome.