The Secret of Giving: A Christmas Collection is Reba McEntire

Reba McEntire

Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

's twenty-fifth album, and second Christmas album, the follow-up to her 1987 album Merry Christmas to You

Merry Christmas to You

Merry Christmas to You, released in 1987, is the fourteenth album and first Christmas album by Reba McEntire, with most of the tunes being McEntire's renditions of very familiar traditional Christmas fare. It is currently the latest album to bear McEntire's last name on the front cover...

. The album features mostly new, original holiday tunes with only a couple of traditional favorites. The children featured on "The Angels Sang" are actually the class of her son Shelby who was in the third grade at the time. The album peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

country chart and is currently certified Gold by the RIAA.It has sold 840,000 copies as of December 2010.

The album was followed by a CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 made-for-television movie also called The Secret of Giving. The film starred McEntire and aired on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...

 night in 1999. It featured songs from the album as its soundtrack.

Track listing

1. "This Is My Prayer for You" (Tony Arata, Gary Scruggs) - 3:40
2. "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
   I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
   "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" is an American Christmas song with music and lyrics by Tommie Connor.The original recording by Jimmy Boyd on 15 July 1952 when he was 13 reached #1 on the Billboard charts in December 1952, and on the Cash Box chart at the beginning of the following year...
   
   " (Tommie Connor
   Tommie Connor
   Tommie Connor was a British songwriter, credited with several hit songs over his long career. Most notable among these was "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", which has been recorded by many artists, including the Jackson 5 and is among the top 25 Christmas music songs...
   
   ) - 3:44
3. "One Child, One Day" (Gerry House
   Gerry House
   Gerry House is a and award-winning American radio personality, currently heard on WSIX-FM in Nashville, Tennessee on the morning show Gerry House and the House Foundation...
   
   , Layng Martine Jr.) - 3:31
4. "Mary, Did You Know?
   Mary, Did You Know?
   "Mary, Did You Know?" is a Christmas song and Marian hymn with lyrics written by Mark Lowry and music written by Buddy Greene.-Background:Mark Lowry wrote the words in 1984 "when his pastor asked him to write the program for the living Christmas tree choir presentation. The music was written by...
   
   " (Buddy Greene
   Buddy Greene
   Buddy Greene is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and harmonica player. Most of his recordings consist of gospel music, with a distinctly Southern flavor. Much of his music is influenced by country music and bluegrass music. Greene grew up in Macon, Georgia...
   
   , Mark Lowry
   Mark Lowry
   Mark Alan Lowry is a Christian comedian, songwriter, and singer, best known for co-writing the song “Mary, Did You Know?”. Lowry performed with the Gaither Vocal Band from 1988–2001 and, in January 2009, he re-joined the group along with other "GVB" alumni Michael English and David Phelps...
   
   ) - 3:21
5. "Up on the Housetop" (Benjamin Hanby
   Benjamin Hanby
   Benjamin Russell Hanby , also given as Benjamin Russel Hanby, was an American composer who wrote approximately 80 songs, the most famous of which are "Darling Nelly Gray", the Christmas song "Up on the House Top", and the hymn "Who Is He In Yonder Stall?".Hanby was born near Rushville, Ohio...
   
   ) - 2:07
6. "The Angels Sang" (Helen Darling
   Helen Darling (singer)
   Helen Darling is an American country music artist. Darling has released one studio album on Decca Nashville...
   
   , Peggy Newman) - 3:45
7. "Santa Claus Is Coming Back to Town" (Roxie Dean
   Roxie Dean
   Roxie Dean is a U.S. country music songwriter and singer. In 2005 she released her debut album, Ms. America. Her songwriting career includes a 2001 Nashville Songwriters Association International "Top 10 Songs That You Wish You’d Written" award for "Why They Call It Falling" , and a Grammy...
   
   , Lonnie Melvin Tillis) - 3:35
8. "The Secret of Giving" (Rick Bowles, Sunny Russ) - 3:55
9. "This Christmas" (Bowles) - 3:52
10. "'Til the Season Comes 'Round Again" (Randy Goodrum, John Barlow Jarvis) - 3:34

Personnel

• Reba McEntire
  Reba McEntire
  Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...
  
   - vocals
• Eddie Bayers
  Eddie Bayers
  Eddie Bayers is an American session drummer who has played on 150 gold and platinum albums. He received the Academy of Country Music 'Drummer of the Year Award' for eight straight years, and has three times won the Nashville Music Awards 'Drummer of the Year'...
  
   - drums
• Paul Leim - drums
• Richard "Spady" Brannan - bass
• Glenn Worf
  Glenn Worf
  Glenn Worf is one of the premier Nashville session bassists. He was born in Dayton, Ohio but grew up in Madison, Wisconsin and has concentrated on the bass guitar since he was thirteen. He majored in music at the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. Inevitably his talents forced him to abandon the...
  
   - bass
• B. James Lowry - acoustic guitar
• Biff Watson - acoustic guitar
• Jeff King - electric guitar
• Brent Mason
  Brent Mason
  Brent Mason is an American session guitarist and occasional songwriter. He is known primarily for his work in the field of country music. In addition to releasing two instrumental studio albums, he holds several credits as a songwriter...
  
   - electric guitar
• Jerry McPherson - electric guitar
• Jimmy Nichols - keyboards, backing vocals
• Larry Franklin - fiddle
• Terry Crisp - steel
• Paul Franklin
  Paul Franklin (musician)
  Paul Franklin is an American multi-instrumentalist, known mainly for his work as a steel guitarist. He began his career in the 1970s as a member of Barbara Mandrell's road band; in addition he toured with Mel Tillis and Jerry Reed. He has since become a prolific session musician in Nashville,...
  
   - steel
• Eric Darken - percussion
• Will Smith - autoharp
• Liana Manis - backing vocals
• Joe Chemay - backing vocals

Album

Chart (1999)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums	10
U.S. Billboard 200	85
U.S. Billboard Top Holiday Albums	8

Singles

Year	Single	US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
1999	"I'll Be Home for Christmas"	68
	"Away in a Manger"	73
2000	"Secret of Giving"	58
	"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"	50

Sales and certifications