Confession: I don’t think too much about where my favorite Christmas carols came from or who wrote them. I just know that for my life, at least, they have always been. But that all changed a few weeks ago when I learned about Dr. Olapeju Simoyan’s book I Played My Best for Him! (The Inspiring Stories Behind The Little Drummer Boy and Other Christmas Favorites). The author’s crisp, no-nonsense writing style made this book something I devoured in one sitting. It was a quick and easy read, but packed with information, insight, and history. In addition, Dr. Simoyan has written a companion devotional called Heartfelt Offerings. This book is filled with creative reflections to support your mental health during the Christmas season. If you desire to add more meaning, joy, and a greater depth of understanding to Christmas, these are the books you need.

Her patients call her Dr. Simoyan, but friends and family call her Peju. Similar to the way Elizabeth can be shortened to Beth, Olapeju becomes Peju.

“Many Nigerian names (Yoruba to be specific) have prefixes,” Dr. Simoyan explained. “My siblings’ names all start with ‘Ola’ but our parents never called us by our full names. It’s pretty typical.”

Peju was born in Washington, DC, into a Nigerian diplomatic family, but she didn’t grow up in the U.S. She attended boarding school in Nigeria and spent her early years traveling in and out of the country. While music was always an interest, she had little formal training as a child — just one school year of piano at her first boarding school.

When she lived in Baltimore between grad school and medical school, Peju learned to play a few guitar chords on her own. When she realized that instead of struggling to read sheet music, she could also just play chords on the piano to accompany her singing, it opened up a whole new world of joy for her. After she completed her medical training, Dr. Simoyan joined a local ukulele group and performed at community events and nursing homes. As an adult, she also learned how to play the flute, saxophone, steel drum, kalimba, and more. Since her residency, Peju has returned to formal piano lessons with instructors who have abilities in both reading and in playing by ear.

“As a child, I knew there was a writer in me, but it took decades for this to manifest,” Peju revealed. “As a ten-year-old, I felt like I was constantly writing in my head and even imagined writing a book that would have an ‘About the Author’ section on the back cover that announced the author was only ten!”

Despite her love and the fact that her father was not only a diplomat-turned banker but also a writer, she didn’t do much writing while in school. And although she was an academic physician who did a great deal of academic writing, she wanted to write about life and other interests.

At first, she combined her love for photography — something that had been instilled in her as a child, a way to document family experiences — with her love for writing to publish photo books. She started local, and her first book was Scranton, A Place to Call Home. The first edition was published in 2016 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the City of Scranton. Her second book was The Amazing World of Butterflies.

When Peju left her last full-time job in 2022, she decided to focus on a devotional she had previously been working on.

“I worked with a physician coach to learn more about the process of self-publishing on Amazon KDP and published my first book on KDP. She encouraged me to release a second edition of the butterfly book, which I did. I also updated the Scranton book and released a second edition. After that, I was on a roll and have released several other books. I have learned so much from the ‘Free University of YouTube’ and other sources.”

To gain an even deeper insight into her life and work, we asked Dr. Simoyan several questions about her many talents, her creative process, her philosophies on well-being, and more

Which is more important, mental, physical, or spiritual well-being?
For well-being, we need “all of the above.” It’s all about balance. People are becoming more aware of the importance of paying attention to the mind-body connection. Our spiritual, mental, and physical health are all interconnected, and each needs our attention.

Do you have a philosophy for living your best life? What does a person need to be who they were meant to be?
Balance is important for being the best version of who I was created to be. For too long, I compared myself with other people, kept thinking something was wrong with me, etc. Now I realize that the things that make me different (and in some cases in the past the subject of teasing and ridicule), are what make me unique and I’m meant to use my gifts and abilities — which I believe are gifts from God — to make an impact. I encourage others to stop trying to be “normal” and to be the unique individuals they were created to be. I also believe that as healthcare professionals, we are better clinicians when we embrace all of who we are. 

How did I Played My Best for Him! come about? Did you know you were going to write a book when you were recording the album?
I recorded the songs in late 2022, after leaving my last full-time job — about the same time I got my first devotional book, Living Foolproof, published. We released one song in time for Christmas that year — “The Little Drummer Boy” — and the full album the following year (2023). At the time, the idea of writing about the stories behind the songs hadn’t even occurred to me. Then in December 2023, I attended a service in which we were given handouts that had the story behind “O Holy Night.” I immediately thought it would be a great idea to research all 13 songs on my CD and write a book!

I already had writing commitments for the first half of 2024, so I decided that I would have to wait till June to start writing the book. In June 2024, I started researching and writing the stories behind the carols. By the end of August, I believe it was, I had all 13 essays in draft form.

I was scheduled to attend the International Association for Music and Medicine’s conference in Berlin, Germany, in September 2024. Even though the manuscript was practically done by that time, I decided to make a stopover in Austria to visit one of the Silent Night Museums and the Silent Night Memorial Chapel in Oberndorf near Salzburg. It all worked out, and I eventually was able to include some of the photographs I took in the book! 

Have you always been interested in research and learning more about creativity?
Yes, I have had a long-term interest in research and creativity. I think it took me a while to figure out the “creativity” part — I mean identifying this interest by this name and figuring out how to pursue it.

What was your favorite part of writing this book?
I really enjoyed learning the details of the stories, and I think I can say that I enjoyed writing this much more than a lot of the other writing I have done. I actually enjoyed the writing process and can’t say this about much of the other writing I have done. To quote another writer, I typically like “to have written,” meaning I like to communicate through the medium of writing, but don’t always enjoy the process. But writing I Played My Best for Him was actually something I enjoyed. 

What was the most surprising thing you learned while writing this book?
There were a lot of surprises, like finding out that “Joy to the World” wasn’t intended as a Christmas song. I also found out that some of the widespread stories about “O Holy Night,” though interesting and fascinating, are not verifiable. I address some of these unverified stories in the book. 

What was the hardest part of completing this book?
Writing the book was enjoyable. Unfortunately, publishing it was not! Because I self-publish and had only a few months to get it published on time for the holidays, the publishing process was challenging and frustrating at times. At one point, I was working with two graphic designers to try and keep things on track, but that complicated things. It all worked out in the end, thank God. The first edition was published in November 2024, just before Thanksgiving. 

A second edition of the book was released in October this year (2025). You may wonder why a second edition already? Well, this one has a foreword written by Dr Mary Rorro, the Chair of the Music and Medicine Committee of the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA), of which I am a member. I had also written an essay about Christmas caroling in Nigeria in response to a call for holiday-themed stories and it was rejected by the publication, so I decided that I might as well use it in my own book — so it’s in a postscript. I also made a few minor changes to the text, like deleting a quote that is no longer available on the website I took it from, but otherwise, it’s essentially the same book.   

Did you face any challenges while making the recordings?
I enjoy spending time in the studio, so I enjoyed recording the music, but there were challenging aspects with this, too. My producer really pushes me and has very high standards, so there were some songs where it took a lot more time and effort to get things right. Perhaps because I didn’t have proper music training in my early life, I have always struggled with rhythm, and for some songs; it was more of an issue and took more effort. 

When did you decide to write the companion devotional?
Believe it or not, it was only weeks from the time someone suggested the idea of the devotional — till publication date (November 24, 2025). My friend, who helps with website updates and gives me marketing ideas, suggested it, and it sounded like a great idea. I think this was already early October. Since it borrows heavily from the main book, it seemed like it would be relatively easy, but of course, it ended up being more work than I had anticipated!

How should someone use these books? Do you recommend that people read I Played My Best for Him! first? 
I think it makes sense to read the main book first, but the devotional can be used on its own. The relevant information from the main book is repeated in the devotional, along with questions for reflection and suggested activities. The devotional also has some entries that focus on mental health and wisdom and aren’t directly related to the carols. 

What advice would you give to someone who wants to write a book? 
It’s relatively easy to self-publish these days. If you really want to write, just start. Work with a coach if you can for the first book, and after that you should be able to do it on your own. There are lots of resources on YouTube that are very helpful, and you can learn so much about writing and self-publishing. There are also several support groups for independent writers on Facebook. I have learned so much since I started self-publishing, and I look forward to publishing more books.

You do so many things. What is next for you? Are there any projects you’d like to tell us about?
I released my book on women in medicine, Girls Become Doctors and Much More, in September and would like to publish a gender-neutral resource for students preparing for medical school. I say “gender-neutral” because I want male students to benefit from my books, too. I know that male students can benefit from the book on women in medicine, but I realize that the title may make them hesitant to read it. Along with my addiction medicine physician colleague, Dr William Santoro, I co-authored a book on methadone that was also released this year. We are working on a companion book on buprenorphine that we plan to publish in 2026. 

Is there anything I missed that you wished I would have asked?
Your questions were pretty thorough! I guess I can add that prior to medical school, I trained as a dentist (right after high school in Nigeria) and later got a Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins, so I’m trained in medicine, dentistry, and public health. I am currently board certified in family medicine and addiction medicine.

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The second edition of Dr. Simoyan’s I Played My Best for Him! is now available. She has kindly included QR codes in the book so you can listen to every song she has written about. To purchase I Played My Best for Him! or any of Peju’s other books, go to her author page on Amazon or Barnes & Noble. If you would like to keep up with all Dr. Simoyan has going on, follow her on Instagram or visit her website (www.thedoctorwriter.com) where you can send an email and/or join her mailing list.