In Luke 2:4 we read, “And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)” Bethlehem means house of Bread. It’s fitting that Christ, who proclaimed himself as “the Bread of Life” was born there.
This hymn was written as a poem by Dubliner, Cecil Frances Alexander. It was first published in 1848 in Miss Cecil Humphreys’ hymnbook Hymns for little Children”. English organist, Henry John Gauntlett, set the poem to music the next year. This version is the Henry Mann arrangement, and is always the first song on the program at King’s College every Christmas.
On a personal note, this is my favorite Christmas hymn from the LDS Hymn book. In my ward, at least, we usually don’t sing this at all over the Christmas season. One year we sang Christmas songs before Sacrament meeting started each week. Each week we sang every song, but this one. It’s #205 in the hymn book if you’re wondering — if we have any ward music people reading this post, please, oh please, put this song into the rotation! Continue reading
Yesterdays’ post of 
My friend 
In the fall of 1988, I was a sophomore in high school. Our choir director, Mr. David Perry, pulled out the Christmas music, and introduced the sophomore choir to a song that was to become one of my favorite Christmas songs of all time, John Rutter’s, “Jesus Child”. It’s an exciting song with a calypso beat. I’ve always imagined the song being a group of friends telling each other about the birth of Christ and as the more people know the story, their joy and excitement for Christ grows.