I'm not too much further along my Christmas prep.  Tree is still undecorated, but that is happening tomorrow night.  I realized this morning that my cleaning lady's last day before Christmas is tomorrow and I don't have my traditional pan of fudge for her.  That's just going to have to wait until the weekend.  So my search for Christmas music was a ( Read more... )

I love Christmas music.  I switch to Christmas music December 1 and reluctantly put it away December 31.  For the whole month of December,   I am all Christmas all the time.  I try to find a new Christmas album every year, but it's getting tougher!  My friend sent me the Christmas album of Straight No Chaser.  It's pretty catchy and I thought I'd ( Read more... )

I did not accomplish any Christmas preparations today.  The furniture store called yesterday to tell me that they would be delivering our new bed on Monday.  This meant that we had to move the couch out of the basement, so we could move the futon to the basement, so we could move our existing bed to the guest room.  Phew!  While the bed was out of ( Read more... )

Given the news out of Connecticut this morning, it does not seem like a very Christmasy day.   The Christian advent season incorporates the concepts of hope, peace, joy and love.  While this is not a day for joy, it is a day to  hope for a better tomorrow, to work for peace, including the peace that would end gun violence, and it is a day to love ( Read more... )

I think it's time for a little crooner Christmas.  I couldn't find a vid for this song, but I just love it, so I had to include it.   This is my favourite crooner Christmas song:

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This arrangement of Sleigh Ride with Harry Connick Jr. has all the big band brass and va va voom, but I do miss the sleigh bells:

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And one for the Bones fans.  (I consider ( Read more... )

Christmas cookies are done!  Good thing, because the exchange is tonight.  Today's video is from the Barenaked Ladies.  They have a great Christmas album called Barenaked for the Holidays.  It also includes a couple of Hanukah (sp?) songs.  The song in this vid is called Elf's Lament and it is one of my family's favourite car sing along's :

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Even ( Read more... )

Last night's concert was quite lovely.  I do feel more in the Christmas spirit when I participate in something like that.  We had some great music.  I was in the regular choir and the bell ringing choir.  The bell ringers were a bit of a hot mess, but no one knew.  The key to bell ringing is to look really happy even when you are screwing up ( Read more... )

One of my favourite memories of  a_mistletoe, is her  Twelve Days of Christmas vid-fest posting.   In her honour, I thought I would try my own (scaled down) version.  I have chosen this song as the first one because it was thanks to a_mistletoe that I discovered this particular Xmas album, and it has become one of my favourites.

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I thought the Obama's looked a little ( Read more... )

I attended our Remembrance Day service this morning.  In our community, there is a service at the cenotaph and then a parade to whichever church is hosting the service (it is shared among several churches).  The combined choir sang this John Rutter anthem:



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This is a really powerful song and I was so happy  it was part of this extremely moving

When I was a kid my mother hated carving pumpkins and wrapping Christmas presents.   As a child, this attitude puzzled me.  What's wrong wtih pumpkins and presents?   As an adult, mother and someone who works outside the home, I get it.   Wrapping Christmas presents is one huge pain and all the work you go to in order to make them pretty is over in ( Read more... )