5 Videos to Kick Off Your Christmas

NewSong has been making music for more than 35 years, yet in the last 15 or so years, the band has cemented itself as one of the premier acts to usher in the holiday season. Buttressed by the runaway success of the band's all-time biggest hit song--2001's "The Christmas Shoes"--the band has seen themselves propelled into the soundtracks of millions of families each holiday season.

Whether it be from their Christmas releases--The Christmas Shoes, The Christmas Hope and new collection The Best Christmas Ever--or from their much anticipated annual Very Merry Christmas Tour (which comes between Winter Jam stints), NewSong has a special place in their collective heart for the holidays.

To kick off your season right, here are five songs to get you rolling into Christmas time, NewSong style:

1. "The Song of Christmas"
Originally from The Christmas Hope album, this song juxtaposes two very important and very realities of the holiday: the drawing near of friends and family, and the story of Jesus' birth 2,000 years ago. The passionate ballad does justice to both sides of the season, and ties them together nicely.
 

2. "Go Tell It On The Mountain"
NewSong's 2013 release Swallow the Ocean had a Christmas companion edition, and the band released its rendition of the classic Sunday School favorite, "Go Tell It On The Mountain." The four-on-the-floor, uptempo, knee stomping cover showcases the band's undeniable Southern roots, while still projecting their passion and reverence for Chrismas.
 

3. "Sweet Little Jesus Boy"
The following video features a little behind the song devotional thought from NewSong founding member Billy Goodwin. The rendition, featuring Goodwin solo on an empty stage with just an acoustic guitar, captures the tenderness and simplicity of the holiday spiritual.
 

4. "My Heart's With You"
This song released a year ago, and was used as part of the Hallmark Channel original movie,The Christmas Note. The song, a rare relationship-focused ballad, focuses on the loneliness that can come during the holidays when loved ones are apart. It's not all gloomy, though; the song points to the fact that despite what's going on around us, "everyone needs a hope to believe in."
 

5. "The Christmas Shoes"
Yes, we'd be extremely remiss if we didn't include the song that put NewSong on the holiday map. "The Christmas Shoes," in the off chance that you've never heard of it, is a story song talking about how the young son of a mother dying of cancer wants to buy her a present, so she'll look beautiful when she meets Jesus imminently. It's a total tearjerker, for all the right reasons, even spawning a TV movie based on the song, starring Rob Lowe.