Worship leader, artist and singer/songwriter, Chris Tomlin has always wanted to do a Christmas record. “It’s a time when people who may not have sung a song the whole year, or their entire life, begin to sing,” he says. “There is something about a Christmas song, whether it’s sung at church or heard by carolers on the street, that gets people to join in song. They sing the songs proclaiming that God has come, has entered this world and made a way for us.” This is the spirit that Tomlin wanted to capture with the recording of Glory In The Highest. Produced by Ed Cash, Glory In The Highest features familiar classics including "Angels We Have Heard On High," "O, Holy Night," "Joy to the World [Unspeakable Joy]," to which Tomlin wrote a new refrain, and four new songs that will be Christmas favorites for years to come. With special guests Matt Redman, Christy Nockels and singer/songwriter, Audrey Assad, the album succeeds in its purpose of transforming familiar carols into songs of worship. Recorded at Ocean Way Studios in Nashville, TN, Tomlin filled the small room, formerly a church, with some of his closest friends, worship leaders and industry leaders including radio programmers and retailers from across the country. Taken from the singer/songwriter’s fifth album, See the Morning (2006) the title-track, Glory In The Highest reflects how mighty God is. “When the angels came to the shepherds and said to them, “glory to God in the highest,” they were announcing the birth of Christ, the Almighty, and still today thousands of years later we are still proclaiming and celebrating the good news.” Since Christmas is the one holiday that seems to join the whole world together, Tomlin believes this to be the power of God, “because nothing else unites people like this. It is the greatest story that has ever existed: the grace of God coming. And no matter where people fall on their views, everybody can come around the idea that something special has happened here, and that is worth singing about. Each season Tomlin gets asked about some of his favorite Christmas memories. We thought we’d share those with you, as well as a few others: Q: What is your favorite Christmas memory? My favorite memory is my brothers and me sleeping together the night before Christmas when we were little. We would wake up early in the morning then form a single file line in the hall and wait for our mom and dad to let us attack our gifts. Q: What is your favorite Christmas family tradition? I love watching It's A Wonderful Life with my mom, and when we were young, my brothers and I loved watching Emmitt Otter's Jugband Christmas with my dad. Now I have started my own tradition of listening to A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens each year. Q: Tell us about that one gift you wanted most badly as a child? Did you ever get it? I really wanted an ATV three-wheeler. One year under the tree was a helmet and a note from Santa that said all he could make that year was the helmet and that would have to do until he could get a three-wheeler maybe the next year. I tried my best to be grateful but was so disappointed. Later that day my dad asked me to get some firewood from the back porch. When I went outside, there set the most beautiful Honda three-wheeler you have ever seen. Three-wheelers have since been banned because of safety reasons... :) Q: What is your favorite Christmas song? My favorite is “O, Holy Night”. It’s so powerful to me. I don’t know what it is that resonates so much, but for some reason that song grabs me every time. I really feel the weight of it. I feel the power of that song, the power of that lyric. “O, Come All Ye Faithful” is a close second. Q: What is your favorite Christmas/holiday food? Greenberg Turkey from Tyler, Texas and wassle Q: What are some songs that stand out to you on the record? --With “Joy to the World [Unspeakable Joy]”, well, it was one of those songs where I didn’t want to come in and change too much. I was really careful not to mess it up with the melody. It’s a great song, amazing words, but I really wanted to sing some more of it. So we just added this little refrain, and that seems to have gone over pretty well. -- I love the story of “My Soul Magnifies the Lord.” I love that it kept so much of the Isaiah scripture and also of Mary’s song. When God said, ‘you are going be the mother of the Son of God.’ I love that her response back was worship to God. She said, ‘I’m your servant. My soul, magnifies the Lord.’ And so were trying to put that to music and that is how “My Soul Magnifies the Lord” was born. --Of course having Audrey sing the song called “Winter Snow” is quite a standout. What an amazing thought that Jesus could come in so many different ways. When you think about the King of Kings, of all of royalty coming to earth, how do you think He would come? You would think He would come with power and lightening and tidal waves and a hurricane torrent and just all nature freaking out. Of course he received the most amazing reaction that’s ever been known in humanity, yet, like her song says, He came in as winter snow in a real quiet place. In a real mystic chaos, He came in just a little cave, just this little town called Bethlehem, not even a kind of massive city. I thought this was kind of a really cool idea for a song, a really special song. --As far as new ones we’ve written, a few years ago I scribbled down a poem, and rarely do I ever just write a poem out or lyrics, but I’d written this poem, “Hallowed Manger Ground” and I thought, ‘someday I’d like to put some music to that.’ So when I was thinking about this Christmas album I got with producer, Ed Cash and I said, ‘I’ve got this poem,’ and he said, ‘well I’ve got this little chorus and it goes ‘Emmanuel, Emmanuel.’’ It fit amazingly perfect with the lyrics to the poem “Hallowed Manger Ground” and from there we created “Emmanuel [Hallowed Manger Ground]. I’m very excited about that song; there’s something about it that has this sense that it’s been around for awhile and that’s what I like about this song.