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A star in contemporary Christian music, Steven Curtis Chapman presents a gentle, yet joyous, country gospel in All I Really Want for Christmas. This platinum-selling singer/songwriter has millions of fans, but I had never heard one of his albums until I tossed his new holiday release into my audio system. Chapman is the real deal, with an easy-going demeanor and a cheerfully earnest passion regarding his craft. You just sense that this is one of the "good guys," a caring man who wants the world to be a better place and carries the Christmas spirit in his heart every day of the year.

All I Really Want for Christmas is a generous release (over 52 minutes!) that features 14 tracks, including three pieces that were previously recorded for the 2003 Hallmark offering Christmas Is All in the Heart. Adoption is a significant theme for Chapman's album, a theme that fits perfectly with what makes the holidays shine. Chapman's oldest adopted daughter Shaoey (now age 6) opens and closes the CD. At the start, she reads the Christmas story from the Book of Luke, and you can feel the excitement and wonder in her voice. The final cut features father and daughter laughing and briefly singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," and that 30-second snippet bursts with love. The title track is Chapman's original "All I Really Want"; it tells the powerful story of what an orphaned child wants most of all, and it's not a toy or tinsel, but the true joy that only a family relationship can bring.

My favorite tracks include a moving and dramatic "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen," which has a jazzy, yet countrified, soul, and a simply fantastic "Go Tell It on the Mountain." Country star Vince Gill provides winning support on the endearing "Christmas Is All in the Heart." The liner notes, though difficult to read, provide the lyrics for all numbers, including Chapman's excellent originals.

All I Really Want for Christmas may well be all Steven Curtis Chapman's fans will want this holiday season. And for those neophytes unfamiliar with Chapman's work, prepare to be converted!

--Carol Swanson
(Reviewed in 2005)

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From the liner notes:

Produced by Ed Cash and Steven Curtis Chapman or by Brown Bannister and Steven Curtis Chapman

It's likely that most of us think of Christmas as a special, exciting, almost magical time of year for children. All the anticipation, Christmas pageants, treats, gifts and fun naturally come to mind. If your house is like ours, our kids make Christmas morning. Mary Beth and I look forward to our presents, sure. . . But watching our children receive what they had hoped for,now that's worth getting up at what is essentially the middle of the night to see. I wrote the song "All I Really Want" as I reflected on the painful truth that Christmas is anything but joyful for so many children. For the little boy in the song, and so many others like him here in the US and around the world, instead of it being a time of joy and feeling loved, Christmas only highlights for them what they don't have and so desperately want and need: a family.

As you read this, the Chapman house has three little, almond-eyed Asian beauties anxiously awaiting the chance to open up gifts this year. They are here because a little girl named Emily Chapman felt God's call before her Mom and Dad did and prayed so fervently that her parents finally sensed God's leading, too. People have commented to us over the years about the incredible gift we've given to Shaohannah, Stevey Joy and Maria by making them part of our family. Those are kind words. . . but the truth is that Mary Beth, Emily, Caleb, Will Franklin and myself. . . we are the ones who have been given the most amazing gift and experienced the miracle.

Steven Curtis Chapman

All I Really Want for Christmas

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Track List