One sound makes this time of year ring.

It sounds firmly outside the stores in the hands of a Salvation Army worker.

They jingle in expectation of their holiday duty when the box of decorations comes out of the attic.

Zion Chapel AME rehearses Christmas program.Click here for slideshow

Church choirs ring big ones. School children shake the smallest version.

The carol of the bells is all around us, and everyone identifies with it.

“(Bells) are introducing something spectacular,” Billie West said.

West and the choir at Zion Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church will sing about the bells at 7 p.m. Friday.

The “Carol of the Bells” is choir member Jadtrl Heard’s favorite holiday tune.

“It’s so invigorating,” said Heard, a senior at Natchez High. “It’s so energetic. I must have been a little child when I heard it on TV, and now that’s what everyone wants to hear.”

First Baptist Church in Vidalia will have their own Christmas program at 6:30 p.m. this Sunday and Monday, but it’s the bells coming from the preschool program that Music Minister Joshua Roberts hears in his head.

“You hear (bells) and you always just think Christmas,” Roberts said. “We hear a lot of different sounds at Christmas but you always hear jingle bells.”

And there’s a reason we like to hear those bells this time of year, West Primary music teacher Bobbye Winn said.

“It makes your spirit bright,” she said. “I explain to the children that your spirit is the inner voice that talks to you, when bells sound it makes you happy.”

But bells aren’t the only Christmastime sound that creates smiles, others said.

For the saxophone players in the Zion Chapel choir, their sound is the best.

And for Kim Thomas, the music department secretary at First Baptist Church in Natchez, something else makes her ears happy.

“The joy of hearing the kids laugh is what I hear,” she said.

Other area Christmas programs include:

7 p.m. Dec. 12 at First Presbyterian Church, State Street, Natchez, “Gospel Rocks;” 10 a.m Dec. 16 ; 5:30 p.m. Dec. 24 and 10 a.m. Dec. 25

7 p.m. Dec. 14 at Zion Chapel African Methodist Episcopal on Martin Luther King, Natchez

7 p.m. Dec. 14,15 and 16 at the Pentecostals of the Miss-Lou church on U.S. 84, Ferriday

10:30 a.m. Dec. 16 at Calvary Baptist Church, Murray Street, Vidalia, sanctuary choir presents “The Love of God at Christmas”; 6 p.m. Dec. 16 the junior and primary choirs present “The Master’s Plan”

10:55 a.m. Dec. 16 at Jefferson Street United Methodist Church, Jefferson Street, Natchez

6 p.m. Dec. 16 at First Baptist Church, E.E. Wallace Boulevard, Ferriday, “The Love of God at Christmas”

6 p.m. Dec. 16 at First Baptist Church, D’Evereux Drive, Natchez, “There is Peace in the World Tonight”

6:30 p.m. Dec. 16 and 17 at First Baptist Church, Texas Street, Vidalia

3:30 p.m., Dec. 24 at St. Mary Basilica, Union Street, Natchez, “Children’s Festival of Carols;” 9:30 p.m., adult Christmas presentation