“12 Days of Christmas”
This Christmas classic would be well-suited to being a chant or poem–it’s written in a poetic form called “cumulative verse,” where each patterned verse contributes to a longer narrative. If you want another example, think “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.” “Rhymed verse may have originated in dancing and singing–cumulative verse in recitation and instruction,” writes Lina Eckenstein in Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes.
“O Come All Ye Faithful”
This carol is generally attributed to John Wade, a British exile living in France after fleeing the Jacobean rebellion. He earned a living by teaching music and copying plain chant and hymn manuscripts for private use. Around 1741 Wade put the Latin text of "Adeste Fideles" to music and later included it in his 1751 publication of Cantus Diversi.
“Silent Night”
Halfway through December 1818, the church organ in St. Nicholas in Oberndorf, 11 miles north of Salzburg in what is now Austria, broke (a popular version of the story claims that mice had eaten out the bellows). The curate, 26-year-old Josef Mohr, realized it couldn't be repaired in time to provide music on Christmas Eve. He told his troubles to his friend, a headmaster and amateur composer named Franz (Not Hans!) Gruber, while giving him as a present a poem he had written two years earlier. Gruber was so taken by the rhythm of the poem that he set it to music, and on Christmas Eve there was music after all. Mohr played his guitar while the pair sang the song. It was the first public performance of "Stille Nacht" or as we know it “Silent Night”.
“The Little Drummer Boy”
It's not certain who wrote the song, but the "Little Drummer Boy" is believed to have been written by Katherine K. Davis in 1941. The song lyrics are said to be based on an old Czech carol. It was recorded for Decca as "Carol of the Drum" by the Trapp Family Singers in 1951 and credited to Davis.
“Joy To The World”
“Joy to the World” was originally a poem. It was written by Isaac Watts in 1719. It took over a century to be made into a song. It was eventually set to music by Lowell Mason in 1839. The musical version was never intended to be a Christmas song. It was written for the Church as a year ’round hymn paraphrasing Psalm 98. It’s the most published Christmas hymn in North America, being published in at least 1569 hymnals.