Quest

My quest this year was to find the perfect version/rendition/performance of the classic Christmas carol, "O Holy Night." While searching, I intentionally made the Perfect the enemy of the Good.

I failed.

There are many so-so versions out there, some disastrous failures, and a few that come close to the standard of perfection I sought. But none hit the mark. I suspect my search may have been futile.

But really, if you are going to listen to one and only one classic Christmas carol this year, I don't think you can do better than Celine Dion's performance of O Holy Night.

I'm not even a particular fan of the lady and I found her performance to be worthwhile. A bit too subdued in the first verse, but she really starts to hit it strongly at about 2:50 in the video.

Most Christmas songs written in the last 100 years are mere fluff, and the ones written since about 1950 are mostly garbage ("Frosty the Snowman" — enough said.) But if you're looking for a modern song with a classic touch, and deeply spiritual as well, you would be hard-pressed to do better than "Heaven Came To Earth" by 2nd Chapter of Acts:

Merry CHRISTmas, everyone.