Amy Grant: Home For Christmas
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This album came out in 1992, and I must have bought it somewhere around that time, since I was a fan of her pop music. And now it's been many years since I've listened to it, so I'm doing so again in 2021 to write a review. It's Grant's second Christmas album out of at least four (one of them being a compilation album), but it's the only one I own.

Of course, she's originally a Christian singer, so it's not surprising that about half the songs on the album are Christian songs, not all of which were familiar to me. But it starts with a couple of familiar secular songs, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year". Grant has a good voice, so the songs are quite serviceable, but not among my favorite renditions I've heard. Then there's "Joy to the World/For Unto Us a Child Is Born", the first part of which is instrumental. That surprised me, and I'm not sure I liked it. I wanted singing, you know? But the second half has singing. Then there's one I didn't know, an original song called "Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song)". It was nice, I guess, but not something I'm going to remember. I didn't exactly like "O Come All Ye Faithful", just because it has a lot of pauses between lines, which I found a bit off-putting. But it didn't sound bad. "Grown-Up Christmas List" was pretty nice. "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", "Winter Wonderland", and "I'll Be Home for Christmas" are all nice enough, but again, not among my favorite renditions. "The Night Before Christmas" was unfamiliar to me. I kind of liked it, but I'm sure I won't find it memorable. Next is another original song, "Emmanuel, God With Us". As always, I liked Grant's voice, but I'm afraid it's hard for me to care much about Christian songs with which I'm not already familiar. The final track is purely instrumental, "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring". It was composed by Bach, but I'm not familiar with it. I liked it well enough, especially the parts that sounded rather Irish to me.

So, all in all, I'd say it's definitely a good album, but not one I find essential.