What about Christmas carols during Advent?

My catechist's guide recommends that I start my last 2014 class — the third Sunday of Advent — with "Christmas carols playing, and encourage the kids to sing along. Oh, and wear reindeer antlers or a Santa's cap." I'll pass on the get-up — as if we can't trivialize this season enough? The suggestion to play Christmas carols doesn't feel quite right to me.

Our Advent Masses stick closely to Advent hymns during Advent — and I like this. Growing up on auto-pilot, the cultural norm is to sing Christmas songs during Advent and maybe sing (or, mostly, listen to) Christmas song or two on Christmas day, and then on St. Stephen's day we strike up the marketing machine for New Year's Eve paraphernalia? How can we prepare our souls the longing of for His coming if we don't call to mind that ancient period before God came to earth — and then relish His birth, and all that it means?

Anyhow, I'd like for my class to follow suite with the Advent season, and stick to Advent songs. Unsurprisingly, I had some difficulty finding Advent songs my students might know. Here's a few that I like — any suggestions?

Winning and Losing, the Nativity — Class for Dec 7, 2014

Winning and Losing, the Nativity

Class for Dec 7, 2014

• Summaries:
• Book 1, Lesson 9; "Winning and Losing" 

• Students discuss their experience winning and losing
• In accordance with our faith in Jesus Christ
• Game prep for discussion of the Beatitudes
• Students to read biblical passages of embodying God's Word
• Challenge to create ways they can live Gospel values
• Help to realize that true happiness comes from our relationship and need for Gof
• Learn that charity is self-giving

• Book 2, Lesson 3, "The Birth of Jesus"

• Game; "Prayer, share or dare" light-hearted questions about Christmas, and perform fun and silly Christmas-related dares.
• Assemble an angelic conference which explores alternatives to how the Second Person of the Trinity may have become human.
• Reflect on the significance of how Christ was born
• Students to reflect on their understanding of Christmas 
• Reflect upon Jesus' humble birth and how this helps us understand our relationship with God.
• Grapple with challenging questions about how we celebrate Christmas

Class prep:

• Set up Computer LCD
• Rearrange class to accommodate TV
• Write on paper: advent party next week
• Does anyone have food allergies? 
• Distribute books and bibles
• Pencil and lined paper
• Make a line on the floor with tape

1. Quick Start Activity (while kids come into the classroom) 6:40 - 7:05
1. Write on the board:
1. What is your favorite memory of winning?
1. What happened?
2. How did you feel?
2. What is your worst memory of losing?
1. What happened?
2. How did you feel?
2. Game Show Catechism 7:05 - 7:20
3. Welcome and Opening Prayer 7:20 - 7:25
1. We are in the Holy Presence of God
2. Prayer
• Jesus, all of us want to win. You have shown us that if we want to win what is really important you have to lose what is not important. To gain eternal life we have to give up our own lives. You have shown us that sacrificing ourselves for others is the true path to happiness because when we give to others we also receive, Give us the courage to lose ourselves so that we can take her place in heaven, which you have won for us. Amen.
3. Discuss the winning and losing warm-up
4. Forced Choice 7:25 - 7:35
1. Object: find where you stand on a particular topic
2. Example play
1. Left side: hamburgers, right side: Hot dogs
2. Go fast, don't think about it
3. A few more test runs
1. Cereal or waffles
2. football or basketball
3. Spider-man or Aquaman
4. For real now
1. easy / hard
2. happy / sad
3. pain / pleasure
4. hungry / full
5. crying / laughing
6. excluded / included
7. praised / insulted
5. Afterwards: 
1. Who had difficulty? 
2. What was difficult?
6. Pick a few pair — explain your choices
7. Explain: we avoid painful choices and seek pleasurable choices. Jesus taught us;
1. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
8. Read Luke 6:20 - 26
1. Our choices are great than an immediate thought of good and bad — which is why we need prayer
5. Winners and Losers 7:35 - 7:50
1. Point at the crucifix — would someone who never saw a crucifix before think Jesus "won" or "lost?"
1. This isn't about how YOU see it — how "fresh" eyes would
2. This was a difficult problem for early Christians
1. Read 1 Corinthians 1:23
3. Why is this difficult to grasp?
4. As the 3 questions on pg 108
5. Offer:
1. Losing isn't always losing
2. Winning isn't always winning
3. Tom Sawyer: manipulating based on "winning" and "losing"
4. Are we always "winning" when we think we are?
6. The Birth of Christ 7:50 - 8:05
1. We've spent some time on "won" and "lost" Now consider Christ's birth:
1. Born in a dirty manger and cave, with a feeding troff as His crib
2. What do we know about a God who comes to us in such a humble way?
3. What does that tell us about who God is?
4. What if God's coming had been "majestic"
5. What do we learn from this how we should celebrate Christmas?
6. Volunteer reads Page 111
7. I'll read Page 47, #5's bullet points