Driving Notes

Today Todd and I gave you some chances to win with our Mystery Monday Question and a Christmas Gift Exchange!

Here is today’s Mystery Question:

Can you name two out of the top five most popular Christmas songs? 

1. Jingle Bells – 45
2. White Christmas – 16
3. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer – 8
4. O Holy Night – 7
5. Silver Bells – 6
6. We Wish You a Merry Christmas – 5
7. Silent Night – 4
8. Jingle Bell Rock – 3
9. Joy to the world – 1
10. All I Want for Christmas is You – 1

Congratulations to Jana from Utica who guessed Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and won that $5 gift card to Troyer’s of Apple Valley!

Here are the fun facts that we shared about these Christmas songs:

• “White Christmas” is the top-selling Christmas song of all time. The song was written by Irving Berlin, a Russian Jewish immigrant who also wrote “God Bless America.”
• The song “Jingle Bells” was written in the 1850s for a Unitarian church by James Lord Pierpont, but it wasn’t written for Christmas. It was originally written for Thanksgiving and called “One Horse Open Sleigh”.
• “Silent Night” is one of the most recognizable songs at Christmas Mass and on a radio playing non-stop holiday music. (While most people recognize the lyrics “Silent Night, Holy Night, all is calm, all is bright,” the original lyrics are “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht, alles schlaft, einsam wacht.”) The song was originally written in German in 1816 by Father Joseph Mohr, a Catholic priest in Austria. Two years later, it was set to music by Franz Gruber. It was translated into English by John Freeman Young of Manhattan’s Trinity Church.
• Silver Bells, written in 1950 by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. The original title? “Tinkle Bells.” The title was changed when Livingston’s wife told him about the double meaning of tinkle. 

We also played the WNZR Christmas Gift Exchange! Congratulations and thanks to Karen from Mount Vernon who played the WNZR Christmas Gift Exchange with us and won a gift from under our tree! If you want more information, click HERE.

Thanks for checking out our blog!

– Hannah and Todd