University to Offer Course Credit for Christmas Carols!

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And what university would that be, old sport? None other than Quokka U.! And that’s me, Byron, hastening to bring the news.

Yes, now you can get course credit in any course you want, just for entering Lee’s Second Annual Christmas Carol Contest. Doesn’t matter what your major is–it’s two credits for every carol you enter into the contest. I know one quokka who’s halfway to his diploma before the University has even opened, before he’s signed up for a single course–just by coming up with Christmas carols.

But I also need to bring up an unrelated subject: systemic phobophobia. The unimportance of this cannot be overemphasized.

Phobophobia is the problem no one cares about. In fact, I don’t even know what it is. I’m just reading off a crumpled piece of paper somebody found wrapped around a popsicle stick.

Back to what matters! So many of you have never requested a hymn or suggested a carol. That’s why we’re offering course credits! Just think of all the time you won’t have to spend dremmeling away in a classroom!

And believe me–a Quokka University degree is worth its weight in eucalyptus leaves.

 

‘Sussex Carol’

This is another one of my favorite carols. I know I’m supposed to be posting your favorites, but no one has requested any for today. Some way to run a carol contest.

Anyway, this is The Sussex Carol, arranged by Elaine Hagenberg–beautiful enough to bring a tear to my eye. I know it’ll stick with me all day.

If we ever needed Christmas, we need it this year. If we ever needed the Lordship of Christ, we need it now.

By Request, ‘O Holy Night’

This entry into our Second Annual Christmas Carol Contest is from Phoebe–O Holy Night. And we have Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti to sing it for you (Vienna, 1999).

By Request, ‘The Little Drummer Boy’

Ina in Scotland request this, and it’s entered in the carol contest–The Little Drummer Boy, sung by Bing Crosby and David Bowie. And we have another carol coming right up, so don’t go away!

O Christmas Tree!

We have a real Christmas tree every year. It’s a tradition. For both of us here, it brings back Christmas memories going all the way back to early childhood. And some of our ornaments, handed down by grandparents, are older than that.

But in recent years, most people have gone for artificial trees.

Until this year.

This year the word is that the demand for real trees is higher than it’s been for years (https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2020/11/27/christmas-tree-more-americans-flocking-to-fresh-cut-evergreens). In fact, sales reached a new high even before Thanksgiving.

They’re trying to chalk this up to King COVID somehow, but I think the truth is more profound than that. And simpler.

This year, more than other years, we need Christmas. We need the family and the Christmas tree, and we need it all to be real, we need the carols; and above all, we need our Savior, Jesus Christ. We’ve been trying to get buy on fake stuff longer than is good for us. Our souls are starving. We need Christ to be born in us, in our hearts.

We don’t need any more fake nooze, fake elections, fake celebrities, fake science, phony world leaders–we’ve had enough, and we’re choking on it.

We need the Baby in the Manger–and His Father, the God who has blessed everything that is wholesome, sane, and decent.

‘Pat-a-Pan’

No one else is going to ask for this carol, and it’s one of my favorites, so here it is–Pat-a-Pan, a Burgundian Christmas carol from I don’t know how many centuries ago. This is the Zamar Student Choir from the Harrisburg Baptist Church. I wonder if I can find this carol in Burgundian…

By Request, ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’

This request is from Erlene: O Come All Ye Faithful. I resisted the temptation to post yet another Nat King Cole rendition; this one is by Celtic Woman, and I hope you like it.

By Request, ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’

We’ve got two Christmas Carol Contest entries to start the day. This one’s from Phoebe: Nat King Cole sings O Little Town of Bethlehem… and I’ll bet those are Thomas Kincaid paintings in the background.

By Request, ‘The Holly and the Ivy’

Thank you, Phoebe, for entering this beautiful hymn into our Christmas carol contest–The Holly and the Ivy, by the Robert Shaw Chorale. I don’t know about anybody else, but I’ve loved Christmas all my life and the older I get, the more it stirs my soul.

A Carol from Sweden

Bengt has sent us this entry in our Christmas Carol Contest–sent it all the way from Sweden: Peter Mattei singcs Giv mig ej glans (“Give Me No Splendor”). The album is “Christmas (Jul=Yule) with Peter Mattei.” He is in a class with the world’s great singers.