On the Tenth Day of Christmas ...
It's the tenth day of Christmas, but I'm not sure I could muster much excitement about ten lords a-leaping if they showed up on my doorstep (mind you, it's a rather small doorstep, and I don't think they'd fit anyway ). I'm sick. I have been for a week and I'm tired of it. I forced myself to down a cup of boiled ginger and honey this morning and it seems to have helped a little. I wanted to go to church this morning and did. I was out of the house for exactly one hour and twelve minutes and that took about all the energy I had. I did go for a short walk late in the afternoon which helped clear my head a bit, but there was a nap, idle Yahoo Answers surfing and a movie (The Pacifier) watched wrapped up in afghans on the couch in between. I hope I feel better for work tomorrow.
I appreciated that my church still had the Christmas decorations up - I like that they observe the entire Christmas season through Epiphany - and I appreciated hearing carols this morning. The Disciples congregation my parents attend when in Atchison seemed more in favour of praise choruses despite the season and I kind of missed them the two Sundays we were there (oh, they sang a few, but not near enough, in my opinion). One of the carols sung this morning was "In the Bleak Midwinter." Miss Amber made us learn that for choir way back at Islington and I wasn't too found of it then. I was somewhat intrigued to discover I'm more fond of it now. I was then a little amused to look down at who wrote it and discover the words were by Christina Rossetti (sister of the PRB painter) and the music was by Gustav Holtz. I've developed an appreciation of Rossetti as a poet over the past couple of years and of Holtz as a composer over the past decade or so. Perhaps the 12-year-old me was just not culturally prepared to like "In the Bleak Midwinter" all those years ago. Either that or the arrangment Miss Amber had us sing was just not as good as the one in the new Lutheran hymnbook.
They also sang "Twas in the Moon of Wintertime" this morning, which given the slightly annoying level of "political correctness" in the new hymnal (although frankly not as annoying as the level present in the Presbyterian hymnal in use at the church we attended in Cambridge), I was a little surprised about. I used to really like this one when I was a kid. It was in Songtime 4, one of the books used in my elementary school music classes. Unfortunately now I find J.E. Middleton's words (it is stretching the truth to call them a "translation") annoying and pedantic. I much prefer the mix of Wendat (Huron), French and English Heather used in her recording of "Jesous Ahatonhia" on her album This Endris Night. I'm thinking of buying a copy to give to the music director at St. John's so he can hear what I hear (to parrot a line from another childhood favourite of mine).
I appreciated that my church still had the Christmas decorations up - I like that they observe the entire Christmas season through Epiphany - and I appreciated hearing carols this morning. The Disciples congregation my parents attend when in Atchison seemed more in favour of praise choruses despite the season and I kind of missed them the two Sundays we were there (oh, they sang a few, but not near enough, in my opinion). One of the carols sung this morning was "In the Bleak Midwinter." Miss Amber made us learn that for choir way back at Islington and I wasn't too found of it then. I was somewhat intrigued to discover I'm more fond of it now. I was then a little amused to look down at who wrote it and discover the words were by Christina Rossetti (sister of the PRB painter) and the music was by Gustav Holtz. I've developed an appreciation of Rossetti as a poet over the past couple of years and of Holtz as a composer over the past decade or so. Perhaps the 12-year-old me was just not culturally prepared to like "In the Bleak Midwinter" all those years ago. Either that or the arrangment Miss Amber had us sing was just not as good as the one in the new Lutheran hymnbook.
They also sang "Twas in the Moon of Wintertime" this morning, which given the slightly annoying level of "political correctness" in the new hymnal (although frankly not as annoying as the level present in the Presbyterian hymnal in use at the church we attended in Cambridge), I was a little surprised about. I used to really like this one when I was a kid. It was in Songtime 4, one of the books used in my elementary school music classes. Unfortunately now I find J.E. Middleton's words (it is stretching the truth to call them a "translation") annoying and pedantic. I much prefer the mix of Wendat (Huron), French and English Heather used in her recording of "Jesous Ahatonhia" on her album This Endris Night. I'm thinking of buying a copy to give to the music director at St. John's so he can hear what I hear (to parrot a line from another childhood favourite of mine).