christmas day 2011

hey!!!!! it's christmas day!!!!!!

so a big happy christmas to all of my readers no matter where you are.

i remember one christmas holiday

travelling around with a group of my friends to sing christmas carols.

our goal - fun - pure and simple.

i recall that we had sucked back more than our fair share of riesling

before heading out to share the results

which only served to enhance the joy

for the singers

if not the listeners.

singing isn't one of my strong points.

so rather than share something

personal but capable of ruining this morning's magic,

i'd like to share with you

three carols sung by people who know what they're doing.

starting with my favourite . . .

i saw three ships

next up will be good king wenceslas

the lyrics for this carol are rich with images in my mind

connected to my last christmas in england.

i was eight years old

and staying at a holiday home

in saltburn up on the yorkshire coast.

at the time, my dad was three thousand miles away

carving out a life for himself and his shortly to be arriving family.

it snowed while we there

and i recall one journey out into the countryside

that filled my mind with

(what have become)

archetypal images of a magical christmas.

i wish i could put the sensations of that particular day into writing for you,

but the effect of seeing snow,

moorland, waterfalls, rivers,

and the pennines

filled my head and heart

and to this day i can recall and feel

the very same childlike wonder at it all inside me.

and so i'll indulge myself further

by sharing the lyrics of good king wenceslas

with you here .

good king wenceslas looked out, on the feast of stephen,

when the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even;

brightly shone the moon that night, tho' the frost was cruel,

when a poor man came in sight, gath'ring winter fuel.

"hither, page, and stand by me, if thou know'st it, telling,

yonder peasant, who is he? where and what his dwelling?"

"sire, he lives a good league hence, underneath the mountain;

right against the forest fence, by saint agnes' fountain."

"bring me flesh, and bring me wine, bring me pine logs hither:

thou and I will see him dine, when we bear them thither."

page and monarch, forth they went, forth they went together;

through the rude wind's wild lament and the bitter weather.

"sire, the night is darker now, and the wind blows stronger;

fails my heart, i know not how; i can go no longer."

"mark my footsteps, good my page. tread thou in them boldly

thou shalt find the winter's rage freeze thy blood less coldly."

in his master's steps he trod, where the snow lay dinted;

heat was in the very sod which the saint had printed.

therefore, christian men, be sure, wealth or rank possessing,

ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing.

to learn more about this carol then you can give one of my old posts a read!

and of course last but not least, the holly and the ivy . . .

a very happy christmas to each and every one of you!

steven