Christmas Songs

Christmas songs....aah! We love them because they make us joyful. Because they hold memories for us, reminding us of when we were children ourselves. Because of the meaning they have, or the sentiment they express, or the feelings they create.

It's difficult to choose favourites, but here are some of mine. These are the ones I can listen to over and over, and without which, it  just wouldn't seem like Christmas:

Traditional Favourites
Away In A Manger
O Little Town Of Bethlehem
Silent Night
I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day
Adeste Fidele
O Holy Night
Angels We Have Heard On High

Other Favourites
A Time For Peace - Roger Whittaker
Holly Leaves and Christmas Trees - Elvis Presley
White Christmas - Bing Crosby
C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S - Jim Reeves
At Last I'm Ready For Christmas - Barra MacNeils
Christmas In Dixie - Alabama
Tender Tennessee Christmas - Amy Grant
Christmas in Killarny
Have A Holly Jolly Christmas
Silver Bells

Honourable Mention
The First Noel
River - Joni Mitchell
Snoopy's Christmas - The Royal Guardsmen
Kids - Kenny Rogers

Christmas In The Country (Part III)

Christmas in the country,

Like another time and place.

I see it in the little things,

In every smiling face.

It's crystal nights and far off lights

And children count the days.

Country Christmas and love will lead the way.

- Roger Whittaker, Christmas In The Country

It's the last weekend before Christmas. The house is decorated, the cookies are baked, the tree is lit. School is out, spirits are high, excitement is mounting.

It's time to Deck The Halls, by which I mean incorporate one of my favourite Christmas traditions, one that stems from medieval times, and is a bit on the pagan side too. The Winter Solstice is upon us, the Yule season, and in our house that means enjoying a crisp winter afternoon out of doors collecting pine boughs and red berries and bringing all those smells of the outdoors inside, to be placed with the holly and mistletoe, and the strings of popcorn and cranberries, on windowsills and around doorways. We light up the house with oil lamps and candlelight, and make sure there is a blazing yule fire to ward off the darkness on this longest night of the year*.

Feasting is an important part of the day. We enjoy tourtiere and decadent desserts, including a spicy figgy pudding, sing carols and drink mulled wine shouting wassail (be whole) to which the reply is drinkail (drink and be merry). We'll move the furniture and dance Christmas polkas before settling down before the fire and telling riddles and stories by its light.

Welcome mid-winter!

* Yes, I know the actual solstice doesn't occur until Monday, Dec 21st

Christmas In The Country (Part II)

The chimneys hold the promise

Of a friendly fire inside.

And so it's after bedtime,

All the children's eyes are wide.

There might be cakes and short bread

On a shiny silver train,

Waiting for a country Christmas day.

-Roger Whittaker, Christmas In The Country

Getting the tree is always exciting. We decorated the house through the week, and this weekend the focus was on two things: going to the tree farm to get and decorate the tree, and having a family feast under the sparkling lights.

Finger food was on the menu - we're talking sausage rolls, meatballs, cheese and crackers and a big pot of chowder, and some mulled wine so that the house smells like cinnamon.

Grandad and Nanna were here to take pictures and join in the fun. And then today - in the snow - was the Christmas Pageant, followed by an afternoon of sledding and snowball fights. Now it's just us again, mugs of hot cocoa all round, and curling up fireside for a bit before we watch a Christmas movie.

25 Days of Christmas

I think this is a great idea, this Christmas challenge from A Peek Inside The Fishbowl. There are so many things to do at Christmas and it's so easy to lose track of the things most important to you and your family over the holidays.

My 25 Days of Christmas isn't really 25 days at all, more just a list of things I want to do in December that will contribute to the overall cheer of the holidays because they are a) fun for the whole family or b) give us a chance to slow down and appreciate the season. Because I work, some of them can be done simultaneously (such as drink wine, write cards, and listen to Messiah) or can be fitted in to our regular routine (reading books, watching a movie)

So what's on my list?

• Drink wine and make plans
• Read A Christmas Carol (every year, without fail)
• Read Christmas stories by the fire before bedtime
• Have a Christmas Movie Night with the kids
• Christmas Cookie Baking (gingerbread men)
• Listen to Messiah
• Write and address Christmas cards
• Letters to Santa
• Write a Christmas Story with the kids (this year: a pioneer version)
• Plan a Christmas Day concert (I supervise, the kids plan)
• Christmas Tree farm and sleigh ride
• Tree Decorating fondue and snack night
• Old Fashioned Carol Sing
• Christmas Parade
• Visit Alight at Night at Upper Canada Village
• Take the kids shopping for Dad (yes, this is fun. The trick is knowing what to buy ahead of time, feeding them before we go, not combining it with any other shopping, and going for hot chocolate afterwards) 
• Pot Luck Christmas get-together with friends
• Decking of the Halls (medieval tradition) followed by a solstice feast
• Moonlit snowshoe or walk across the fields. Christmas hats optional.
• Annual hair cut. (Kidding, but not by much)

Christmas In The Country part I

Snow is falling faster now

And dusting on a hill.

Skaters on the river,

Gentle dancers in the chill.

The children's laughter ringing,

As they overturn their sleighs,

Waiting for a country Christmas day.

- Roger Whittaker, Christmas In The Country

We all have our own Christmas traditions. For me, there is no rush to start the Christmas season. November will see me make tentative plans and do a bit of online shopping, but that's all. Then December 1 arrives, and with it my annual  yule ritual of a glass of white wine and a calendar as I plot out what we will be doing and when.

And so this weekend, the first full weekend in December, we kick off our own Christmas In the Country with the local Christmas Tree lighting ceremony. This small town, hot chocolate drinking, christmas caroling event happens tonight, and is the perfect beginning to a weekend that will include decorating the house (but no tree yet), a Christmas parade, and baking cookies.

Weekend Highlights

On Friday night, after Christmas shopping for the myriad of nieces and nephews I would see Saturday, I took my three into Chapters where we bought books (of course) and waited for Andrew who had driven deeper into Montreal to pick up a motor. The absolute highlight of my weekend (with a few exceptions that I'll get to in a minute) was sitting in the Chapters Starbucks overlooking the hum and bustle of the bookstore, drinking the Mezzo Latte that I bought (along with some overpriced but apparently delicious Orange juice for the kids), the four of us reading at a small table in companionable silence.

Heaven! Bliss! Peace and quiet and books.

The weekend went rapidly downhill after that - though I'm calling it an adventure, rather than a disaster in order to make it seem more fun than it was.

But we did finally get to Toronto. We did finally get to see the rest of the family, albeit briefly.

Which brings me to those other highlights of the weekend I was talking about:

Isabella - all baby smiles and roly poly dimples

Rhys - 2 years old with all the attitude and adorable grins that go with it

Naomi - all grown up at almost 6

Michael - another 2 year old who warmed up to me enough to let me read him books. I taught him to growl like a polar bear

Emma - lovely 10 year old with a quiet nature

Ethan - well, all newborns are perfect

And of course, my own three kids, who despite a long and trying weekend, were amazing. I had better say that now because in 20 minutes I'm going to have to rouse them out of bed for school, and odds on that after their long and trying weekend, they're just a little cranky.

In her master's steps...

Good King Wenceslas has never been a favourite Christmas carol of mine, until this year, when I heard the magnificent Barra MacNeils version, and found myself transported to a medieval forest with a benevolent king.

(Bear with me here - I haven't lost it - I know Christmas is over.)

I must have listened to it a hundred times over the holidays, but recently, snowshoeing, I was reminded of it one more time.

Apparently, the dog was feeling hard done by. After bounding ahead for the first half of our trek, she suddenly decided enough was enough, and fell in behind Andrew.

-

Page and monarch forth they went

forth they went together

through the rude wind's wild lament

and the bitter weather.

Christmas Shopping Part III

continued...

Christmas Eve morning finds you at the grocery store – where you will know the psychotic shopping has finally gotten out of hand as you stare wildly at a stand of pomengranates and wonder if you should get some for emergencies. Emergency what, exactly? Sure. Get a box of pomengranates and do the same thing with them as you did with the five emergency tubes of chestnut puree you bought last year at this time. Nothing – until you find them exploded at the back of your fridge in February! This is what Christmas boils down to – you and the other shoppers with their own emergency pomengranates eyeing each other warily as you cut each other off at the checkout.

Time to get a grip. Admit you are not Martha Stewart. Let go of the perfection. Let go of that pomengranate – you are not going to concoct a craft or elegant cocktail out of it. Put it down and move away from your cart. Buy milk. Eggs. Coffee. Cereal. Vegetables. And breathe. Go home, and enjoy a glass of wine by the sparkling lights of your tree with your family. Feel blessed. If you haven’t got it, you don’t need it. Merry Christmas!

to be continued...

Christmas Shopping Part II

continued...

A babysitter later, you are at Toys R Us, with about a million other zombie eyed, frazzled parents wandering aimlessly up and down primary coloured rows of toy upon toy upon toy, listening to Christmas With The Chipmunks, and trying to figure out just how many batteries you need to invest in after your purchases are made.

But ladies and gentlemen, don’t get home with your carload and gifts and sink thankfully into a chair. You still have to wrap them and tomorrow the real shopping starts. You still have to go to the Beer Store, the LCBO, the Florist for the centerpiece, the post office to pick up the parcels you forgot to pick up last week, the drug store for extra wrapping paper and ribbon, and maybe a bottle of pepto bismal for the tummy aches that are bound to occur, and – last stop – the grocery store.

to be continued...

Christmas Shopping Part I

Ah - the Christmas season. A time of peace, love, joy. Also a time of psychotic shopping.

The psychotic shopping always starts innoculously enough – a day browsing gently, swaying through the aisles of department stores picking up perfect gifts as you see them. Subtly, the days progress and the pace increases as you realize you have gifts for your sister, your mom and your best friend, but nothing for great-uncle Albert, or your husband’s snarky cousin Mildred.

With the hardest gifts yet to get, you steel yourself to take a precious Saturday – when you should be picking out a tree with your family – to brave the malls, and at the end of a trying, frustrating day when you have given up and bought them both toasters with an uncharitable “If they don’t like them, tough!” attitude – you get home, marvel at the tree and feel your heart sink at the realization that the “fun and easy” shopping for the kids you allowed yourself to put off until later, still needs to be done.

to be continued...

Bravo! A Christmas Concert

'Tis the season ...for school Christmas concerts!

Oh, the good old hockey game, is the best game you can name

And the best game you can name, is the good old hockey game...

You know - that time of year when we parents cram ourselves into pint sized chairs in a school gymnasium and watch our offspring sing, dance and entertain their way through an evening of songs and skits.

Even the most cynical have to admit that despite muffled voices, serious faces, the odd case of stage fright, and the helpful whispers of teachers from the wings, school concert nights are delightful. There is unbridled innocence and exhuberance about the younger grades and the older grades manage to infuse Christmas meaning into their rap performance leaving you believing there is hope for the future.

Here are the apples which fall from the tree...

We took the kids' great-grandmother with us, and she loved every moment of it. She waved at all the children on stage, and many of them waved back. She clapped with the music, before the music, after the music, and sporadically during the music, and often, some of those sitting around her would clap too as if in support. She had a wonderful evening.

Yee haw, do-ci-do...it's a cowboy Christmas

(doesn't he look happy?)

We are lucky at our school to have a marvelous band, and the quality of the music was one of the highlights of the evening.

And at the end of the concert, we were able to say with pride, Bravo!

Until next year.

Picking the Tree

Picking the perfect Christmas tree is a ritual that should not be rushed.

I can say that even though we were in and out of the bush where we found our tree within an hour. That included the sleigh ride there and back, and the hot chocolate at Sanata's shack afterward.

But then, we've got it down to a fine art.

***

The trick is deciding ahead of time what kind of tree is required. Which basically means Pine or Spruce. Spruce is perfect with it's sturdy branches for hanging ornaments, but I am a sucker for the long soft needles of the Pine tree. Also, I find that Pines look more rounded, and I love fat trees.

The second trick is in knowing whether you want tall and slender (read elegant) or full and bushy. This may be determined by the size of room you have.

And finally, knowing the height you require is essential. Andrew is 6'3" and we have 8' ceilings in the farmhouse, so we look for a tree that is no taller than the top of his fingers when he holds his arm up over his head. (This is easier that taking a tape measure out, though that works too). You'd think this was a no-brainer, but plenty of people get their tree home only to find it is much bigger than they thought and have to start lopping bits off the end to make them fit (right, Dad?). This is because trees tend to look a lot smaller out of doors.

Once you know the size and shape and kind of tree you want, you just need to look around and make sure the one you pick doesn't have any gaping holes anywhere. Trial and error has shown that you can spend hours in the snow debating between trees, and all that happens is you end up with the one you were debating when you finally realised your toes were cold.

So we skip all that angst now, and take the first or second that we look at that meets the criteria. Fit in a rousing snowball fight and the obligatory pictures, and then we take it home, and spend our time and energy debating more important things.

Like angel or star. Coloured lights of white. That sort of thing.

Old Fashioned Tree Lighting

We went to our local small town tree lighting and carol sing on Friday night. The kids all participated with the Scouting group, and when they weren't singing, they ran around with their mates from school.

***

The lights sparkled and twinkled. The night was cold but clear. The Scouts served hot chocolate. The community gathered and we sang songs.

***

It kind of felt the way Christmas is supposed to feel.

***

The way it hardly ever does anymore in these days of consumer madness and rushe. It was nice to slow down and savour the moment.

Inflatable Christmas

If the children are with me, I put off going to Canadian Tire this time of year. This is because outside the door is one or more of those huge, inflatable Christmas “decorations” (and I use the term loosely). Whether it’s Frosty the Snowman, or a bubble of swirling snow with Santa on his sleigh inside it (like some captured prize of a Narnia-like evil despot), or (this one makes me grit my teeth) a Santa Homer Simpson (WHO ON EARTH thinks that is Christmassy?) – they all just make me want to run screaming. And yes, I have been known to turn away from a store just because these monstrous things are up.

The children, however, love these things. Look! They play music. Look! Santa pops up out of the chimney. Look! It’s magic. And the inevitable request. Can we get one? Please? Pleeeeaaase?

No.

Maybe it’s my conservative nature. I like decorating with fairy lights and greenery, red bows and silver balls. I can admire home-made ornaments and paper chains strung from the ceiling, cotton wool bearded popsicle Santa’s and clothes-peg based Rudolphs. Bring it all on, and I revel in it.

But not inflatable Santas that sit in the middle of the yard waving and bopping merrily to all and sundry during the evening, and then spend their days in a crumpled heap of plasticated defeat –a sad sodden puddle of Christmas decoration waiting to be plugged back in so it can wobble and wave once more.

However much I dislike these grossly overdone figures, for reasons I cannot fathom they have become a staple of the Christmas landscape, much as the giant plastic candles were a staple of my childhood Christmas memories (for the record, I never liked them much either!).

Oh yes, they make a big, bold statement. But I so prefer the neighbour’s house down the street with its miniature reindeer lit up with twinkling white lights.

Old Christmas Card

There's an old Christmas card

In an old dusty trunk

And it brings back sweet memories

Dear to me...

- Jim Reeves -

I'm not one of those people who starts to celebrate Christmas in November. My mother (who puts her tree up Nov 30, and this year managed to sneak it up a week earlier than that) berates me for it with such ammunition as "Your brother will have his tree up by now," but I happily ignore it all beacause for me it is enough to celebrate Christmas for the whole of December.

My tree goes up around the 6-10 of December, and the decorations inside and out at the same time.

I even prefer to Christmas shop in December, although I do online ordering in November to ensure delivery, and I like to have a list drawn up as completely as possible.

But the one thing Christmassy that I do love to do in November is Christmas Cards. I love the tradition of sending cards to old friends and new. The children and I make some for family as well, and have a great time being creative and witty with them where possible.

I don't do Christmas letters any more, but I do make sure to handwrite a small note in each card, particularly to those people I don't keep in touch with regularly through the year, but who it is nonetheless nice to keep in touch with at Christmas.

My cards are ready to go now. I just have to pop them in the mail. Now it feels like Christmas is around the corner.

Another week or so and I may even let the kids sing Christmas songs!

Below are some of the farm-related cards we've made in past years;

1. This is our bull, Hughie.

2. This is our llama and a couple of sheep.