i can't wait to see my friends when i get home. i probably should be nicer to them then this picture though, hmm? don't worry we're just joking around.

Tomorrow it will be two weeks until I go home. Tomorrow will also be Thanksgiving. It’s weird, celebrating a holiday in a country that already had their version of it. Heather’s setting up a buffet style dinner for a bunch of the students and Julia and I are helping out. Since I’m not that great of a cook I’m just bringing the drinks, making some biscuits, and making some cranberry Jell-O!

This is my first Thanksgiving away from any of my family at all. Technically Josh is family but you know what I mean. It was weird enough celebrating Halloween ( or not celebrating actually ) in 90 degree weather. But Thanksgiving? I’m glad we’re going home for Christmas because I think that would be too weird. They keep playing Christmas music all around the island and it just blows my mind.

We were at IGA the other day and a Celine Dion Christmas carol came on and Heather and I were just like, “please turn it off.” I don’t really think anyone’s in the mood down here. I don’t know if it’s the attitude of the island or the sheer face that you can’t go outside without frying yourself.

I don’t mean to be complaining. I guess it’s just hard to wrap my head around. Another thing that’s hard to grasp here is time. Because every day is exactly the same weather wise and heat wise, the weeks tend to blend into one another. It would be one thing if there was anything to do on the island except the four of five things that are here — but there’s not.

I was bummed I missed out on the orphanage this week because I wasn’t feeling well but it turns out the bus driver never even showed so I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. I love those kids and I will miss them when I come home for the holidays. I already promised them that I would go to Target and print out the pictures they’ve been taking on my camera. I think they were confused as to what Target was but they didn’t push it because they were just so excited. I love being able to let them use my one digital camera. They really seem to enjoy being the photographer, posing everyone and snapping images from their points of view. It really does give a whole new perspective.

Poor Josh is just so stressed about school. I hate that he doesn’t get to bed until like 2 am every night. I’ve been sleeping in the guest bedroom because I haven’t been feeling well and I always wake up when he comes to bed late. Thankfully he’s been understanding about that. I wish I could do more then just clean and cook and do my best to build his self esteem. I asked him the other day if there was something I could do to help and he said, “make me smarter so school is easier.” Honestly, he’s brilliant he just gets so down on himself. Medical school is not easy. It’s not supposed to be. But that doesn’t make it any less stressful.

I think the island itself makes it stressful as well. It’s hard not to feel closed off from the rest of the world down here. The only news we get is on the internet and that’s what we can find. The funny thing is that while Josh isn’t a fan of television, I think he’s starting to wish we had it even if it was just for the news. We’ll have it next term in our new apartment, but still. I am proud of us for going all these months without a TV though. I mean we have one, it just doesn’t turn on. Sure, I still watch some shows online but on an island where the most exciting thing to do is walk down the beach and play in the ocean it’s easy to waste your days in front of the screen.

I think I waste a lot of time on the computer, but at least then I’m trying to be productive instead of just watching someone else’s life.

Family and friends, I can’t wait to see you in two weeks and one day!

Love,

Amber

Now I know it’s not Christmas yet, but I’m flashing you back. Deal with it. Classic whitney, tearing this simple carol up and down, setting it on fiyah.

Sulla nostra corale, già alle prese con rinunzie, assenze, minacce di dimissioni, animate discussioni assembleari e consiliari, mangiate di fegato, problematiche fiscali legate al modello EAS, è caduta una nuova tegola.

Per antica tradizione, in tutte le chiese si tengono concerti per Natale. Anzi, essendo la festa della nascita di Gesù, il Natale è, fra tutte,  l’occasione più appropriata per un concerto corale: è bello immaginare l’insieme dei cantori che, idealmente, si unisce al coro degli angeli che cantò “Gloria in excelsis Deo” sopra la grotta di Betlemme. Nelle civiltà nordiche, dall’Avvento all’Epifania, è tutto un fiorire di canti, inni e “carols” natalizi.  Musicisti di tutti i tempi hanno composto melodie bellissime per il Natale (penso a S. Alfonso De’ Liguori che compose “Quanno nascette Ninno“, versione originaria, in napoletano, di “Tu scendi dalle stelle“, penso all’Oratorio di Natale di Bach, alla Pastorale di Corelli, alla Ninna Nanna di Brahms, alle corali più natalizie del Messia di Händel, all’anonimo che compose la bellissima Adeste Fideles,  a Mendelssohn, cui si deve la melodia del canto in inglese “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” e non dimentichiamo Bing Crosby con la sua White Christmas). A me personalmente piacciono moltissimo i canti di Natale: ricordo con nostalgia quando, qualche anno fa, nella chiesa di campagna che la mia famiglia  frequenta, il parroco di allora (tradizionalista e – che combinazione! – compagno di seminario del vecchio parroco della nostra Basilica milanese, quello che favorì la nascita del nostro coro: evidentemente condividevano l’apprezzamento per la buona musica) alla Messa di mezzanotte faceva intervenire un baritono del coro della Scala, il quale eseguiva da solista alcune belle melodie, alternandosi con la gente che cantava a gran voce i canti tradizionali natalizi, da “Astro del Ciel” a “Tu scendi dalle Stelle“. Un’atmosfera festosa che mi manca molto. Più recentemente, soprattutto da quando frequento la corale, mi son fatta delle vere e proprie flebo di S. Agostino, che disse che chi canta la musica sacra “prega due volte”, della frase di Tommaso da Celano incisa nella Basilica della Verna “non clamor sed amor cantat in aure Dei, tunc vox est apta chori si cor consonat ori”  (non il clamore, ma l’amore, canta all’orecchio di Dio, perciò la voce è adatta a cantare in coro se il cuore è in consonanza con la bocca), degli anglosassoni, che, traducendo il Salmista, esortano a “make a joyful noise unto the Lord” (rivolgere al Signore un clamore gioioso)… insomma, sono convinta che non ci sia modo più bello e gioioso di festeggiare il Natale che farsi una bella cantata … ed ero perciò così contenta sapendo che il mio coro quest’anno avrebbe voluto fare un concerto natalizio nella chiesa di cui porta il nome … Ma proprio oggi – quasi a conferma di quel che ho già scritto, cioè che questa è la settimana del pessimismo e del fastidio – è giunta una raggelante risposta negativa, il cui tenore fa veramente riflettere. Riflettere sui diversi modi di intendere il Natale, la liturgia, il canto tra una come me – che non ha una gran voce né cultura musicale, né si crede portatrice della Verità rivelata, ma canta con il cuore – e certi preti. 

Il nuovo parroco, tramite un altro sacerdote della parrocchia, alla nostra proposta di fare un concerto natalizio, ha risposto che “purtroppo, la programmazione pastorale e culturale della comunità [...] va in diversa direzione” [N.d.R.: ohibò, e quale, di grazia??? ] e, dopo averci augurato buone feste in modo estremamente sbrigativo, ha aggiunto che, dopo le festività, desidera incontrarci per “precisare con più chiarezza il profilo della collaborazione pastorale”  tra la comunità della chiesa e la nostra corale e – dulcis in fundo, o meglio in cauda venenum -  ”le ragioni, specificamente cristiane, che ne sono a fondamento”.

Tradotto in italiano un po’ meno pretesco, credo che il messaggio possa suonare così: del vostro concerto di Natale (e dei vostri Mozart, Vittadini, Salieri, Hazon, Grüber che proponete) non ce ne potrebbe fregar di meno, per ora state zitti e a cuccia e dopo le feste si parlerà del vostro futuro in questa chiesa, che, se vorrete sopravvivere qui, sarà circoscritto a cantare alle messe “Osanna eh – osanna ho” e simili.

Mah! Sembra che ogni cosa vada storta… pessimismo e fastidio…

THE BROWNE’S CHRISTMAS SONGBOOK

Chords, lyrics and videos to play your guitar on Christmas (the more you sing, the most gifts you’ll receive):

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VJ0MQK0Y

http://rapidshare.com/files/309169706/THE_BROWNE_S_CHRISTMAS_SONGBOOK.doc.html

Mia has uploaded many videos in the past few days. On her Kyte Channel and on her YouTube channel.

On her Youtube channel she uploaded a video of when she went to the opening of A Christmas Carol.

On her Kyte she uploaded five videos of The Making of What would Christmas be Like.

Starting from the first to last here they are.

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

Video 4

Final Video 5

I like Christmas music tons. In fact from Thanksgiving on you won’t find me listening to much else.

But when we were driving back from Northern Indiana this weekend I officially put a ban on Christmas Music until Thanksgiving.

We were driving through Indianapolis when what did we hear on the Christian radio station – Christmas Shoes. Then we changed the channel to hear two more Christmas songs.

Then we got home, and my husband decided to play the piano. From the kitchen, I could hear Good King Wenceslas and O’ Come All Ye Faithful. Crazy.

So at our house we have a ban on Christmas music until Thanksgiving.

Yes, Christmas should live in our hearts all year long. That said, I believe God calls us to enjoy all seasons – including fall, and taking time for Thanksgiving and all that we have been blessed with.

Then we can jump full fledge into the commercialized Christmas season.

Igitur Nos will sing for two special Advent and Christmas events coming in December:

Lunchtime concert
National Library of Australia foyer
Wednesday 9 December, 12.30-1.15pm
Admission free

Service of Lessons and Carols
All Saints’ Anglican Church, Ainslie, ACT
Wednesday 16 December, 7.30pm
A retiring collection for charity will be received

Both of these will feature traditional and much-loved carols as well as music by Sweelinck, Howells, Rutter, Biebl, Hadley, Keren Terpstra, Dulcie Holland, Vaughan Williams and others – plus a special ‘15 minute Messiah’!

All welcome!

I’ve had the privelege of working in a number of churches that attempt to walk a thin line between contemporary and liturgical.  And because of this balance the Advent season has always been particularly full of the glory of the incarnation.

Here are a number of great advent and christmas songs that are either original, arranged, or neglected.  (at the bottom is a pdf of traditional carols and hymns)

| Advent and Christmas Music

All Praise to Thee, Eternal Lord
mp3 | leadsheet

Come Lord and Tarry Not
mp3 | leadsheet

O Come, O Come Emmanuel (6/8 arr.)
mp3 | leadsheet

Gathered Round Your Table (Lord’s Supper Hymn for Xmas eve Service)
mp3 | leadsheet

Glory Be to God on High
mp3 | leadsheet

Go, Tell it On the Mountain
mp3 | leadsheet

Hail to the Lord’s Annointed (Welcome Wagon)
mp3 | leadsheet (link to buy)

In the Bleak Mid-Winter
mp3 | leadsheet

Jesus is Coming (Sing Alleluia)
mp3 | leadsheet

Jesus Came, the Heaven’s Adoring
mp3 | leadsheet

Joy Has Dawned (Getty,Townend)
mp3 | leadsheet

Kyrie 2004
mp3 | leadsheet

Kyrie 2006
mp3 | leadsheet

Kyrie 2007
mp3 | leadsheet

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
mp3 | leadsheet

Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending
mp3 | leadsheet

O Come All Ye Faithful
mp3 | leadsheet

Of the Father’s Love Begotten
mp3 | leadsheet

Once in Royal David’s City
mp3 | leadsheet

They Came Bearing Gifts
mp3 | leadsheet

The Shepherds Had an Angel
mp3 | leadsheet

Who is This, So Weak and Helpless
mp3 | leadsheet

———

Collections

Hymns for the Nativity of our Lord – John Wesley

Traditional Hymns for Advent and Christmas – charts

Advent Music and Devotional 2008 (Christ the King, Raleigh)

The New Oxford Book of Carols

——

Hello All,

So I’m five days passed my deadline for writing this week’s e-mail blast for work.  The topic is Christmas, and the point of the blast is to kick off the holiday shopping season at my place of business.  I’ve been flipping through my brain files, and I’ve come up with absolutely nothing.  Last week’s little trip to NC is still fresh on my mind, and I can’t stop thinking about 75 degrees and blue skies.  Add to that the knowledge I have of potential future events involving my work that I can’t share, yet, and my firm belief that Christmas shouldn’t even be mentioned until Thanksgiving has had its due, and the result will be me sitting here without focus.  I’m a living, breathing, walking, talking failure (at least at this one task).  So I’m going to try to knock in a good thought or two, and I’m starting with my friends, The Lists.

So here goes . . .

My Top Ten Favorite Christmas Songs

1. The Most Wonderful Time of the Year — Andy Williams
2. What Christmas Means to Me — Paul Young
3. This Christmas — Christina Aguilera
4. Step Into Christmas — Elton John
5. White Christmas — The Drifters (do do duh do. do do. do do dooo.)
6. Mele Kalikimaka — Bing Crosby
7. Please Come Home for Christmas — Don Henley
8. All I Want for Christmas Is You — Vince Vance & the Valients
9. Christmas (Baby, Please Come Home) — U2 (do I sense a theme here?)
10. Christmas Wrapping — The Waitresses

More Christmas Songs I Like

1. Sleigh Ride (but only instrumental versions and they have to have the horse whinny near the end)
2. Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree — Johnny Marks
3. I Saw Mommy Kissin’ Santa Claus — John Cougar Mellencamp or John Cougar or John Mellencamp
4. Here Comes Santa Claus — Gene Autry
5. Carol of the Bells — but only full orchestra/full choir versions
6. Holly Jolly Christmas — Burl Ives
7. O Holy Night — Josh Groban
8. Where Are You Christmas? – Faith Hill (I didn’t really “get” this song until I moved to Pittsburgh)
9. Believe — Josh Groban
10. It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas — Perry Como
11. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (it’s catchy)
12. Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming
13. Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow (I like snow)
14. The Chipmunk Song
15. The entire soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas

Christmas Songs I Can’t Stand to Hear at All (or Please Don’t Play These Near Me If You Want Me to Get You a Present)

1. Feliz Navidad — Anyone’s version
2. Christmas Shoes or whatever that song is
3. Dominic the Donkey (hee haw hee haw)
4. I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas
5. Same Old Lang Syne — Dan Fogelberg (gosh I really hate that song – it just goes on and on and on and on)
6. O Tannenbaum/O Christmas Tree
7. The Twelve Days of Christmas

I’m sure there are more, good and bad, but these are all I can remember right now.  Did it help with the writer’s block?  No, but I do think I have a good list started for my next Christmas party playlist.

The annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols will take place at Chester Cathedral at 10.30am on Wednesday 16th December.

Watch performances of several of the pieces that will be performed by the Schola Cantorum:

Boris Ord Adam lay ybounden

Elizabeth Poston Jesus Christ the apple tree

English trad., arr. David Willcocks Sussex Carol

John Tavener The Lamb

Sergei Rachmaninov Bogoroditse Devo

W. J. Kirkpatrick, arr. David Willcocks Away in a manger

John Gardner Tomorrow shall be my dancing day

John Rutter Nativity Carol

Peter Warlock Bethlehem Down

The Fresno Gay Men’s Choir will be having their annual Advent Lessons and Carols on November 29th at 5 PM on 519 Douty Street in Hanford, CA. This is a traditional service of readings, carols and choral pieces. The event is free and open to the public. For more information contact Kyle Anderson at saviour_sercretary@sbcglobal.net or (559)584-7706 or visit the website at http://www.saviourweb.com.

The Fresno Gay Men’s Choir will be having their annual Advent Lessons and Carols on November 29th at 5 PM on 519 Douty Street in Hanford, CA. This is a traditional service of readings, carols and choral pieces. The event is free and open to the public. For more information contact Kyle Anderson at saviour_sercretary@sbcglobal.net or (559)584-7706 or visit the website at http://www.saviourweb.com.

In the West, sooner or later, most musicians or musical groups will get around to making a Christmas album. Sometimes it is seen as a symbol of having arrived. Even Bob Dylan has recently come in line, though he arrived a long time ago and then departed and then arrived…. Well, it is high time that the Crim-Dassler photo contests got in on the act, though it will produce an album of a different sort.

There is $175 in prize money. Check it out!

I finally wrote the Christmas book I always wished I had when I was learning guitar!

The Easiest Holiday Songs Ever, for Guitar feature 18 Classics, using only 3 chords. Simplified      arrangements offer easy access to holiday music and fun.

Click here for more info.

And the story continues…

When I was a kid, my family gathered every Christmas Eve around the piano to sing holiday songs as my Grandfather played. (sounds like Norman Rockwell, right? But really, it’s true!)

After my Grandfather passed away, I wanted to carry on the tradition with my guitar. But because I was not yet a very experienced player, I had a really hard time finding easy arrangements of traditional holiday songs that I could play.

I became discouraged, and the family tradition of singing holiday songs together faded into our past.

Finally, many (many, many) years later, I sat myself down and wrote the book I wished I had had at the time. It is my hope that this book will become part of many a family singalong for years and seasons to come, in my family and yours.

The Easiest Holiday Songs Ever For Guitar features 18 holiday classics that can be played using only 3 chords: G, C, and D. Simplified arrangements make it easy to play these fun traditional songs.

This collection is also great for teachers, childcare workers, eldercare workers, church members, and anyone with basic guitar skills (just 3 chords!) who wishes to enjoy this rich musical tradition.

It’s off to Maria’s for a first-ever family dinner that’s not at Grandma’s. It should be nice; I’ve never seen her house so I’m curious.

On another note, I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do when it starts snowing hardcore. I’ve barely just come to terms with the fact that it’s fall. I’m just not ready for winter. I’m simply unprepared for life to go by this quickly.

So I’ll wear my red knit hat and brace myself for snowflakes, and I’ll sing “holiday” carols and agree with bonhomie with the people who bitch about winter. But inside, I’ll be bawling, because ultimately even though it’s just November it will be December, then January, FebruaryMarchAprilMayJune before I know it and there I go: years and years of school at Gowanda flung away in favor of a big school where everyone’s further along than I am and I know No One.

I guess that’s life, but I’m not ready.

…I suppose I have to start with the change that is dinner at Maria’s and roll with the snow and the graduating and the swiftly-moving life that wings my way.

There is a song I have always enjoyed written by Barry Manilow and Johnny Mercer that goes “No matter how old I grow, I hate to see October go.” Well, we didn’t have much of the usually glorious October this year, so I haven’t played my song at all.  Ah well, next year.

There were beautiful dark clouds,however, over my distant view of Empire bluffs and Sleeping Bear and lots of wind blowing the orchards and big pines.  But hey, there were some wonderful visits from old friends and a chance to get out and enjoy the color on the partly sunny days.  To see the morning sun shoot down the valley, illuminating and singling out groups of golden maples and the sun and shadows of a hilly road.  Those sunny moments were keepers.

The daughter from Colorado was here for a few days to enjoy the color that she misses there.  She also busied herself making bread and one of those “round things” (pie) for Dad.  And helping put away the sailboat for another year.

We explored the county and bought pumpkins and apples from the roadside wagon, watched Lake Michigan beat against the breakwater from the Elberta bluff, and enjoyed the view of Frankfort across the bay.

The birds are beginning to come back to the feeder; it seems as though there are even more than last year—and early, too.  Do you suppose they know something about the winter to come?  They line up on the twig tree next to the feeder waiting their turn like airplanes in a landing pattern while the jay hogs the stand.

All the local Fall festivals are over and the Elberta farmer’s market is through for the year.  Only Halloween is left for October; all the witches and pumpkins abound.  Frankfort has a very special pumpkin carver, Ed Moody, who does huge 800 pound pumpkins with ghoulish and comic faces.  Do look at his website.  It is:       pumpkined.com

As the wind and rain blow me into November, I’ll hope for sun and some nice days for all of us!       Carol

This BMJournal is a plastic-covered file with plastic pockets in which I have inserted a variety of manuscript paper. These can be reallocated to the pockets the moocher uses, one or two sheets to a pocket, arranged so the music is on a separate sheet from that of other contributors; or music can be printed or hand written on your preferred paper and inserted. I would like the folder sent back to me (I’ll mooch it!) to reach me in late September of each year here in the UK, and I will add new pockets and transcribe the music onto Sibelius before remooching it.

I collect carols that are out of copyright from as many countries as I can, and make arrangements for my ‘cello pupils. Each Christmas eve they come and play them in a carol concert for their parents and families in my converted barn, 20 to 24 each year. We hope not to repeat the same arrangement/version for at least 10 years! Last year they played two original carols of mine, and one will be included as my contribution to the journal. It is an arrangement for 8 ‘cellos with words in Welsh.

If you contribute, please include words in your own language, so far we have made the parents and partners sing in Welsh, English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Czech, American, Jamaican patois, Latin, Polish.. I’m sure we can do better than that! This year we are planning to make them all play ‘cello with a carol taught to them by their children/partner!

I am willing to print up the completed journal at cost, spiral-bind and cover with plastic cover and paper-under-cover if contributors would like it to be remoochable in completed form, or to make copies for contributors and other bookmoochers at cost (usually about £5 for 50 page book depending on size – ink, spiral and plastic are the major costs).

Is it too early to start putting up holiday decorations? No! OK, maybe . . . Well, probably. But that doesn’t mean  it is too early to start getting ready for the stressful holiday season. A little prep work now could save you stress as the holidays approach.

Ten pre-holiday season tips to keep you in a cheering mood . . .

1. Start saving! You know the holidays are coming, they come at the same time every year. Why not put some money aside now so the dent in your wallet isn’t so big later? Every little bit that you can put aside will help you later. Anything you can plan ahead for now will also help. To keep you on a budget, take a hint from Santa: make a list and check it twice. Look at who will you need to buy gifts for and how much should you spend on each person, then look at the total. Is it realistic? If not, make some cuts and come up with a more reasonable figure.

2. Shop early! When you have to go to the store, keep an eye out for the perfect gift. We all have at least one person on our shopping lists that is almost impossible to buy for, but paying attention now could reveal exactly what you need. Finishing your shopping list early can save time and money later in the holiday season when you really need it.

3. Get a jump on your holiday craft projects! If you want to give handmade gifts to family and friends, it is never to early to start. Arting and crafting take time, so start early and take your time.

4. Break out your old family recipes! Baking treats for family, friends and neighbors is a great way to spread the holiday spirit. Bur this year, why not try a new (or should I say old) recipe? Look through or grandma’s old recipe book and give some a try. Before giving it away, try it out and see how it tastes. If you like it, chances are they will too!

5. Train your vocal cords! Who doesn’t love caroling? Get your vocal cords into shape for the holidays and start singing now. Then when you do go caroling, you can impress everyone with your newly improved talents. Besides, I know I have been waiting all year to sing “Frosty the Snowman.” Haven’t you?

6. Prep your mailing list! Get ready to mail your holiday greeting cards by looking through your list. Is there anybody you need to add? If you want to include a letter about your family, now might be a good time to start thinking about what you want to include.

7. Kick your winter wardrobe into gear! Look through your closet and make sure you are set for holiday parties. This year, adding a scarf can breathe new life into a drab outfit. Heavy knit sweaters, houndstooth and tweed are some of the year’s hottest trends. As you look through your closet, give away what doesn’t fit and then fill in the gaps.

8. Spread some spirit! Every year as we pack away the decorations, we wish the holiday season could last all year. So make it come a little earlier this year by spreading some joy early. Pay for a stranger’s cup of coffee at Starbucks, let someone else take the close parking spot or help an neighbor carry in groceries. Remember all those things our mothers always told us to do? Do them!

9. Enjoy the cooler weather! As temperatures drop and leaves begin to change, go outside! Take a walk! Take the time out to relax, there will be enough time for stress later. The changing of the seasons will remind you that the holidays are near and that it is a time to celebrate.

10. Relax! You have gotten through the holidays before this year and you will again.

UPDATE! THE OFFICIAL CONTEST LINK IS UP! CLICK HERE.

I have certainly not forgotten the haiku contest (get your haiku in), which is near and dear to my heart. However, for you photogs amongst the readership, this post is intended to be a teaser trailer of sorts to get you thinking and planning and shooting for the next contest, which will be here sooner than you know.

Your assignment, should you choose to accept, is to submit one or two photos which are titled either with the title of or lyric from a Christmas carol. You are free to use a carol that is either secular or sacred, for it to be well known carol or little known (just provide a link to the lyrics), and for your photo to be an ironic riff on the title or straightforward. The successful photo will be the one which interacts best with its title.

Christmas is a time filled with all sorts of visual delights (indoor and out) and emotions (happy and sad), so there is great scope for a diversity of entries in this contest. And, I will be allowing photos from both this and last Christmas for submission.

I am hoping to have the contest up about a week before Christmas and the results out on Boxing Day. Yeah, you know Boxing Day, when the landed gentry in Britain boxed up leftover food and gifts for the peasants, or something like that (Snopes sorts it out for us). At any rate, that date is December 26, the day when Americans regurgitate their excess back to the stores and make room for more ;) Sorry for that last image. Sometimes I get a little exercised, even as I am complicit in the cycle.

Here are some samples which do a little to illustrate the scope this contest allows (I am hoping for both “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” and “Here Comes Santa Claus, Here Comes Santa Claus, Right Down Santa Claus Lane” submissions ), and to get you shooting.

Argo issue number: EAF 110UK
Original release: all tracks taken from 1965 4-album anthology of songs and poems for primary schools, Rhyme and Rhythm.

Singers
Pat Shuldham-Shaw – baritone
Esme Lewis – soprano
Choir of Hampstead Garden Suburb Junior School

Tracks

Side One
A Sunny Bank – PSS
Huron Carol – PSS
I saw Three Ships – choir

Side Two
All in the Morning – EL
Twelve Days of Christmas – PSS
Cradle Hymn – EL

Julie and Burt have been doing such a wonderful job of picturing September in all its glory here in the North.  It has been a busy month for all and  Amy’s birthday party was one of the best.  But there was another celebration we attended that made me think  of how wonderful it is that we are able to celebrate not only an eighth anniversary (Amy and Tony) but a sixtieth.

Our friends, Chuck and Bea, celebrated this one with a fun open house which included a hotdog vendor with his cart outside—with all the toppings— and a finale of Dove bars from a decorated freezer in the living room.  There was time for all to visit and enjoy and relax and that is the way to celebrate that many years.  Here’s to them and may there be more such joyous occasions.

On another beautiful September day we were invited to go sailing with some old friends on their Pearson sailing ketch.  The sun shone, the waves sparkled, and the wind was just enough to make us heel a bit .  We sailed about 7 miles out of Frankfort harbor to look back at the lovely coast of Michigan, always a different view.  I tried to get a good picture of our return and the Frankfort breakwater and light but leaning over the side was not the best advantage point.  Ah well, a lovely day for all eight of us.

The painting day with Julie and other artists at the farm in the national park was a perfect day to paint and to socialize and hopefully to remember how to do it!

Julie at work...

 She, Julie, has been great in getting me places  whether it be in a kayak or exploring art galleries or sitting in a field for a day.  The painting I did was of the old farm house there.

As I look out the window to the hills and orchards I can see the first hint of changing colors and then I think of the changing colors of old friends over the years.  A little grayer, a little heavier,  but the bright colors are still inside.  Let’s enjoy September.    Carol

Every weekend in December, Thursday through Sunday at the Warm Beach Camp and Conference Center, in Stanwood, WA enjoy dazzling light displays, the smell of fresh hot donuts, the holiday sounds of Victorian Carolers, and so much more. Make “The Lights of Christmas” the perfect holiday destination for your family, your friends, and your group. Over 1,000,000 lights adorn the village atmosphere with three music stages, stunning nativity, draft horse wagon rides, polar express train rides and more. For more information, visit the Snohomish County Destination Guide.

Pumpkin Carols

Pumpkin Bells

Dashing through the streets; in our costumes bright and gay,
To each house we go, laughing all the way.
Halloween is here, making spirits bright
What fun it is to trick-or-treat
And sing pumpkin carols tonight!!

Refrain

Oh, pumpkin bells! Pumpkin bells! Ringing loud and clear,
Oh what fun Great Pumpkin brings When Halloween is here!

Great Pumpkin Is Comin’ To Town

Oh, you better not shriek, you better not groan,
You better not howl, you better not moan,
Great Pumpkin is coming to town!
He’s going to find out from folks that he meets,
Who deserves tricks and who deserves treats;
Great Pumpkin is coming to town!
He’ll search in every pumpkin patch, haunted houses far and near;
To see if you’ve been spreading gloom, or bringing lots of cheer!
So you better not shriek, you better not groan,
You better not howl, you better not moan;
Great pumpkin is coming to town!!

Deck The Patch

Deck the patch with orange and black Fa la la la la, la la la la
Take along your goody sack Fa la la la la, la la la la
Don we now our gay apparel Fa la la la la, la la la la
Troll the ancient pumpkin carol Fa la la la la, la la la la
See the great one rise before us Fa la la la la, la la la la
As we sing the Pumpkin chorus Fa la la la la, la la la la
Follow him as he ascends Fa la la la la, la la la la
Join with true GREAT PUMPKIN friends. Fa la la la la, la la la la.

I’m Dreaming Of The Great Pumpkin

I’m dreaming of the Great Pumpkin, Just like I do this time each year.
When he brings nice toys to good girls and boys who wait for him to appear.
I’m dreaming of the great pumpkin with every pumpkin card I write.
May your jack-o-lanterns burn bright, when the great pumpkin visits you tonight.!

Shivery Yells

We’re on sidewalks, we’re on porches, dressed in costumes to scare;
Through the city we’re ringing the doorbells.
Trick or treating, candy eating, gooey stuff in our hair,
But the most fun is shrieking out loud: SHIVERY YELLS, SHIVERY YELLS,
That’s the Halloween nitty-gritty.
Moan and groan, leave us alone,
Halloween’s just one night a year.

Up In The Pumpkin Patch

Up in the pumpkin patch, witches pause,
Out jumps the Great One; hear the applause?
Down through the rows with goodies and toys
All for this follower’s Halloween joys!
HAUNT! HAUNT! HAUNT! who wouldn’t want..
HAUNT! HAUNT! HAUNT! who wouldn’t want?
To be in a pumpkin patch CHEER! CHEER! CHEER!
Waiting for the Great One and being sincere.

Pumpkin Wonderland

Screech owls hoot. are you listen’in?
beneath the moon; all is glist’nin–
A real scarey sight; we’re happy tonight.
Waitin’ in a pumpkin wonderland!
In the patch, we’re watching for Great Pumpkin;
We’ve been waiting for this night all year.
For we’ve tried to be nice to everybody,
And to grow a pumpkin patch that is sincere!!!
Later on, while we’re eating; what we got trick-or-treating;
We’ll share all our sacks of Halloween snacks;
waiting in a pumpkin wonderland!!

O Pumpkin Cards

O pumpkin cards ! O pumpkin cards!
Carry greetings to my friends…
Let them know the day is here;
when Great Pumpkin will appear.
O pumpkin cards! O pumpkin cards!
Carry greetings to my friends.

I Heard The Bells On Halloween

I heard the bells on Halloween their old, familiar carols scream,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
The pumpkin season’s here again.
Then peeled the bells more loud and strong
Great Pumpkin comes before too long!
The good will get the bad will fret
The pumpkin season’s here again!!

I know you’re singing them to yourself!! LOL

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Direttamente sulla splendida spiaggia di El Obayed Beach, lambita da acque cristalline che celano fondali sconfinati e dai colori più vivaci il Carols Swan Club si estende su una area di 40.000 mq a circa 15 km dall’originale cittadina di Marsa Matrouh, caratterizzata da spiagge bianchissime, è la meta ideale per vivere la vacanza all’insegna del relax, del mare e allo stesso tempo offre opportunità per meravigliose escursioni nel deserto e nelle oasi. Dista 170 km da El Alamein , 290 km da Alessandria e 450 km da Il Cairo e 10 km dall’aeroporto.

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