It was hard to remember the name of this carol (The Sussex Carol)–and wouldn’t you know it, I brought myself to tears as soon as I found it and started to play it
Can’t help it!
Category: religion
By Request, ‘Joy to the World’
Requested by SemperSoloDeoGloria, we have Joy to the World, sung by Phil Wickham and friends–with a little bit of Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee thrown in.
I have given in to the temptation not to write or post any nooze, these next two days.
Our Christmas Eve, 2024
No tree, no wreath, no lights–we’ve been too busy, too tired, to do any of those Christmassy things. I’m sort of a shell of myself, and Patty is worn out: for six weeks it was all on her (“Get to work, horse!”)–and now she has me to take care of.
No presents. Hard to buy presents when you’re stuck in the hospital.
And yet… dog my cats if it doesn’t feel like Christmas! Oh, the memories! And every carol stirs my soul.
We have to rest this afternoon. Have to! Perilously close to running on empty. So we’ll have a supper that can mostly cook itself, turn off the lights and love the snow, and watch a Christmas movie: George C. Scott’s Christmas Carol, I think.
And the day after Christmas is the anniversary of our first date, back in 1976.
Merry, happy, loving, remembering Christmas, everyone.
The Chariots of Fire
I don’t know who this preacher is, but boy oh boy, he has a point to make!
We do so often pray and behave as if God were some fearfully distant presence. But He isn’t, is He? He’s always there. “Open his eyes, so he can see,” Elisha prayed for his servant. And they saw the angels and the chariots (2 Kings 6: 17-20).
It’s something important to carry into the New Year with us.
By Request, ‘Away in a Manger’
Requested by Phoebe: Away in a Manger. I think this was the first Christmas carol I learned, and it has never failed to move me.
Sung here by John Denver (couldn’t find it be Pavarotti)/
By Request, ‘O Holy Night’
Requested by Erlene: O Holy Night, sung by Donna Roberson (I couldn’t get Carroll).
Hooray! I had my cigar, then got out of the chair and back indoors without a mishap.
By Request, ‘Angels We Have Heard on High’
Requested by SemperSoloDeoGloria, Angels We Have Heard on High, performed by For King and Country (on a hilltop that looks kind of tricky to me–don’t fall, anybody).
By Request: ‘Adeste Fideles’ (Pavarotti)
Requested by Phoebe, Adeste Fideles, sung by Luciano Pavarotti at the cathedral in Montreal. You’ll have a hard time topping this.
Christmas, 2024
I was starting in on another story featuring fat-head celebrities who want to lord it over us… when the thought game to me, “Y’know what? I don’t care! Julia Roberts and George Clooney can go gargle with floor wax.”
It’s Christmas! The day that our salvation was achieved by the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This year we’ll be celebrating it without a Christmas tree: I’m not able to see to it. I’ll miss setting up the tree and trimming it–our tree lights came from Grandpa’s general store, circa 1930–but that the heck–the LORD has come! And just in time to save us, if you ask me. Time for Woke to walk the plank!
So… if I don’t write up any more nooze between now and after Christmas, I hope it’ll be because I’ve been kept busy posting hymns. Yours and mine both.
By Request, ‘The Little Drummer Boy’
Requested by Thewhiterabbit: The Little Drummer Boy, sung by Carrie Underwood.
This has long been one of my favorite hymns. I’d like to post everybody’s favorite Christmas carols–we’re open for your requests.