Do you know a version with different lyrics from the one I know? In the version I’m familiar with, every verse mentions Christ’s birth (“Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ”) and there’s nothing specifically about Spring or the plants returning.
In DYHWIH, I always took the King to be one of the Magi, not Herod.
Holly & the Ivy (verses 2-5) run counter to your thesis…
I might be misremembering “The Holly and the Ivy”, or conflating it with some other song. The tune, of course, I recognize, but I can never remember any of the words. I sit corrected.
Another song, by the way, which doesn’t mention Christmas at all: “Deck the Halls”. All the references in the song are to Yule, which contrary to what many think, is not synonymous with Christmas. Put that one in the same category as “Home for the Holidays”, or “Good King Wenseslaus”, in that there is reference to holidays, but not to Christmas.
What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?, just as a f’rinstance.
Although, when you consider that it’s about trying to get an early commitment for a date, placing this during the Christmas shopping season strikes me as kind of last-minute…
And although I don’t believe it should be on the playlists at all, I have become resigned to the fact that My Favorite Things is a “popular secular christmas song.”
In the instrumental category, I give you Linus and Lucy, as performed by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Not a single mention of Christmas. 
To its credit, the Sounds of the Season music channel on cable TV is keeping an all-Christmas playlist through the 12th day of Christmas.
What is this channel? I dont have it. But… Dish Network keeps its Holiday Music On long after 12 25 .
It’s one of a large group of channels, grouped together as Music Choice, that is availible on many digital cable and satellite services, including my own.
By the time 12/26 rolls around, I am extremely grateful to be able to shop without hearing Christmas music. The trouble is we get too much of it. There are maybe 10 good songs done well and a bunch of crap. I often wonder if the artist is being forced to do the song for community service or something, they put so little into it. So by the 26th, we’re all burned out and our ears definitely need a break.
I’d like to point out that to a significant segment of Christendom, Christmas does not begin and end on Dec. 25. Most liturgical traditions (Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Methodist, etc…) celebrate Christmas for 12 days beginning on Christmas Day. We (my family) keep our lights and decorations up until the feast of the Epiphany on Jan 6.
Why do the contents of the toilet vanish when you push the button?
I appreciate even the most sarcastic responses. seriously. But “Christmas music sucks” isn’t a great answer to the question (even if a lot of it DOES suck). Neither is “I’m SICK of CHristmas music by December 26th.” Because, chances are, you’re sick of it by December 24th, too, but that doesn’t keep the songs from being played.
While general Christmas burnout is a factor, and certainly explains why mainstream pop radio stations don’t play secular, winter-themed songs after December 25, I think the question remains valid.
I mean, kids are still building snowmen for months after Christmas, so kindergarten teachers in Massachusetts or New York or Minnesota could certainly have their 5 and 6 year oild students sing “Frosty the Snowman” in January or February. Why don’t they?
Couples are still spending romantic winter evenings by the fire in January and February- so why wouldn’t an oldies station still play “Let It Snow” or “Winter Wonderland” then?
AMEN!!!
Except that in far too many places, the Xmas decorations go up and the music starts playing long before Thanksgiving. When the revolution comes, those store managers will be first against the wall.
Quoth me:
I figured out what I was conflating. I was thinking of “Lo, How a Rose Here Blooming”, which does indeed have the image of a flower appearing in the snow. And also has some analogies drawn to Mary and Jesus, but very thin ones.