I wish you all a hopeful Christmas. I wish you all a brave New Year.
I had had hopes of posting more Victorian materials this year, but time has become more and more unforgiving with me as of late. I'll have some of that stuff up and much more in the year to come.
There's a special resonance to this song for me this year. It might have something to do with the unseasonably warm rains we've had the past few days (there's NO snow anywhere to be found in this city), but I think that its the oddly responsable take that it shares with the listener on the nature of the Holiday Season that's what's been really sending it home for me. The song is considered an atheistic Christmas Carol, but I don't really see it as harsh or unkind as many who automatically attribute those kinds of adjectives to Atheism do (nor, for that matter, are the Athiests I count as my friends harsh or bitter or unfeeling - what they are is skeptical, and more power to them). The tone is nostalgic, and honest, and frank, and hopeful. We will all indeed get the Christmas we deserve, for the most part, and those of us who don't will need the hope and charity of those of us who do get the Christmas we "deserve", won't they? Isn't that what the Spirit of this season is really about, anyway?
"I Believe in Father Christmas"
-- Emerson, Lake and Palmer (Greg Lake/Peter Sinfield)
They said there'll be snow at Christmas
They said there'll be peace on earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the virgin birth.
I remember on Christmas morning
A winter's light and the distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that Christmas tree smell
And eyes full of tinsel and fire.
They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a silent night
They told me a fairy story
Till I believed in the Israelite.
And I believed in Father Christmas
And I looked to the sky with excited eyes
Than I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him through his disguise.
I wish you a hopeful Christmas.
I wish you a brave New Year.
All anguish, pain, and sadness,
Leave your heart and let your road be clear.
They said there'd be snow at Christmas
They said there'd be peace on earth.
Hallelujah, Noel, Be it heaven or hell,
The Christmas we get we deserve.
Click or download to enjoy, folks!
From the bottom of my heart to all of you who are reading this - please take good care, please have a Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday - no matter how you celebrate it - and I look forward to seeing and hearing from you all very soon.
There's a special resonance to this song for me this year. It might have something to do with the unseasonably warm rains we've had the past few days (there's NO snow anywhere to be found in this city), but I think that its the oddly responsable take that it shares with the listener on the nature of the Holiday Season that's what's been really sending it home for me. The song is considered an atheistic Christmas Carol, but I don't really see it as harsh or unkind as many who automatically attribute those kinds of adjectives to Atheism do (nor, for that matter, are the Athiests I count as my friends harsh or bitter or unfeeling - what they are is skeptical, and more power to them). The tone is nostalgic, and honest, and frank, and hopeful. We will all indeed get the Christmas we deserve, for the most part, and those of us who don't will need the hope and charity of those of us who do get the Christmas we "deserve", won't they? Isn't that what the Spirit of this season is really about, anyway?
"I Believe in Father Christmas"
-- Emerson, Lake and Palmer (Greg Lake/Peter Sinfield)
They said there'll be snow at Christmas
They said there'll be peace on earth
But instead it just kept on raining
A veil of tears for the virgin birth.
I remember on Christmas morning
A winter's light and the distant choir
And the peal of a bell and that Christmas tree smell
And eyes full of tinsel and fire.
They sold me a dream of Christmas
They sold me a silent night
They told me a fairy story
Till I believed in the Israelite.
And I believed in Father Christmas
And I looked to the sky with excited eyes
Than I woke with a yawn in the first light of dawn
And I saw him through his disguise.
I wish you a hopeful Christmas.
I wish you a brave New Year.
All anguish, pain, and sadness,
Leave your heart and let your road be clear.
They said there'd be snow at Christmas
They said there'd be peace on earth.
Hallelujah, Noel, Be it heaven or hell,
The Christmas we get we deserve.
Click or download to enjoy, folks!
From the bottom of my heart to all of you who are reading this - please take good care, please have a Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday - no matter how you celebrate it - and I look forward to seeing and hearing from you all very soon.