Month: December 2011

Better Late than Never

Ah, the best laid plans and all that.

The plan WAS that Amy and Rachel would fly in today around lunchtime, that tomorrow we’d open presents, and we’d have until the 4th of January to enjoy their company.

Sadly, the reality is that Amy wound up in hospital yesterday due to shortness of breath brought about by blood clots in her lungs. Ow! So no trip to Ohio for the girls. Alas!

Despite this setback, however, we have MANY pluses. The biggest & best being that Amy is now out of the hospital – YAY! – and recovering from her ordeal. She’s on blood thinner and will be playing the part of pin cushion for the next week or so as they do followup tests daily. But she’s home and that’s important thing.

Another plus, Rachel was able to exchange their plane tickets for a voucher. They hope to use them in March to come to Ohio for our cousin’s wedding. Hooray!

More on the positive: The folks and I packed up a goodie package of cookies & candies & Chex Mix etc and mailed that off to the girls. Then we packed up two boxes full of their pressies and sent them along via UPS. Hopefully cookies arrive Saturday & pressies on Tuesday. Mum forgot the stockings, so tomorrow she mails them out too. (Yay for priority mail!)

Once all pressies have arrived (they’ll be sending ours along, too), we’ll do a Skype Christmas. It’s not as good as having them with us in person, but it’ll be a great way to do this from a distance. (elsaf & judiang and I did this on Boxing Day to open our gifts “together.”) It’s pretty neat living in the 21st Century!

So, for the first time in my life, we’ll be opening Christmas presents after my birthday. A bit odd, but I can live with it. I mean, come on, presents! Family! Presents!

Missing you, Amy & Rachel! Get well quickly Amy! Looking forward to Skype Christmas!

Seven Christmas Songs I Love (Plus 2) – Part 9

I decided for my final entry in Christmas Songs I Love to post about my most favoritest Christmas song, ever. “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” has been my favorite since, well, since I can remember. Why? Probably because of the minor key. Actually, I dunno why, but it is.

The trouble with having a favorite “traditional” song is finding the DEFINITIVE version. Or at least, it has been for me. Even Julie Andrews‘ version wasn’t what I was looking for in “God Rest Ye.”

The closest, for several years, was the version by Barenaked Ladies that is in tandem with “We Three Kings.” (Oddly enough, I hated that version the first couple of times that I heard it, but it did grow on me.) But it wasn’t the DEFINITIVE version for me.

Then, last year, I discovered that Annie Lennox was going to release a Christmas album. I was excited and ordered as soon as it was available. And there it was, my DEFINITIVE version! I’m not sure what exactly makes it THE ONE, but it has “IT” and I’m glad it’s in my collection. (Let me know if this autoplays an ad – I’ll swap it for another version if it does. I HATE autoplay!)

Anyhoo, today is Christmas Eve Eve, and tomorrow starts the whole shebang with a family gathering at Aunt Becky’s. If I don’t get around to posting before the actual day, Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate! And God rest ye, merry gentlemen & gentlewomen!

Seven Christmas Songs I Love (Plus 2) – Part 8

Well, this is the post where I deviate from gregmce‘s original Seven Christmas Songs I Love theme – song 8 (with song 9 to finish things tomorrow). And today’s song highlights another group that I associate with Christmas: The Chieftains.

I believe that I bought The Bells of Dublin because I wanted to hear what Irish Christmas music was like. (This was still back in the BMG days when I was doing some heavy experimentation with CDs.) And I quickly fell in love with the album, starting with the chorus of church bells at the beginning, tumbling through “Il Est Né/Ca Berger” and “A Breton Carol” and finishing with a choral rendition of “O Come All Ye Faithful.” But the Christmas Song that I Love from this album, is “O The Holly She Bears a Berry.”

This song is basically the “Sans Day Carol” which has some similar elements to the more well-known carol “The Holly and the Ivy.” It’s often hard for me to decide if I prefer the Chieftains’ version or King’s College Choirs’ “Sans Day.” And of course, if I extended my list to 15 songs, “Holly/Ivy” would make it to the list. But I decided for the sake of this list, I hadn’t gotten to gush about the Chieftains’ Christmas album yet, and so picked their version.

Seven Christmas Songs I Love (Plus 2) – Part 7

Most of you reading this probably know that I have a (bizarre) sense of humor. So in addition to the serious Christmas songs in my collection, there are also a number of humorous Christmas Songs I Love. After all, I have the Chipmunks, Sesame Street, and the Muppets in my collection, and enjoy them all. And, oddly enough, all of them have a humorous version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

IMO, the best way to perform that song is as a send-up of some sort. Eddie Izzard has a fun bit in Dressed to Kill where he discusses the “5 Gold Rings” bit in the song. (Must admit, that’s my favorite bit, too.) But of all the send-ups, my favorite version is by Straight No Chaser, an a capella men’s group.

If you enjoyed this, too, I highly recommend their “Christmas Can Can” as well.

(Today was Baking Day 2011 and we’ve been working hard all day. And we still have stuff to do. Yay for Baking Day!)

Seven Christmas Songs I Love (Plus 2) – Part 6

If King’s College Choir is my Christmas group, and Julie Andrews my Christmas female singer, then my Christmas male singer must be Harry Belafonte. And my favorite Belafonte Christmas album is the less well-known Hallmark album, Tradition of Christmas (also with Jennifer Warnes and the American Boychoir).

One of the Christmas traditions that my family had when Amy and I were kids was the Annual Ornament. Each year, both Amy and I would be given an ornament for the tree. During my high school and college years, we often would take a trip to the nearby Hallmark store and pick out our ornaments. Hallmark often released a Christmas album which they’d sell for cheap with another purchase. Julie Andrews had one of those, the excellent Sounds of Christmas. And there was also the Harry Belafonte one, which quickly became a favorite. (Well, I didn’t care much for the Jennifer Warnes songs.)

Anyway, my favorite song (one of the Christmas Songs I Love) on that album is “Mary’s Little Boy Child”, which is a faster version of Belafonte’s “Mary’s Boy Child.” And the American Boychoir sing the refrain, which is another plus (remember my love of boy’s choirs). Unfortunately, I was unable to find this version of the song to share, so I’m posting his more traditional version (which is also a lovely song).

Seven Christmas Songs I Love (Plus 2) – Part 5

Alas, YouTube has let me down again. I have found a version of the song I’m going to talk about tonight, but it’s not the version that I love. But it’ll give you a picture of what I love.

I love music in many forms, but there’s a special love for a capella music. Singing in tune with no accompaniment is an art form in itself. And when it is done well, it’s almost magical. And that’s what I think of today’s Christmas Song that I Love.

When my family finally got a CD player, I helped make the transition from vinyl to shiny by buying loads of CDs from BMG (a CD of the Month club). And when Christmas time came around, I ordered all sorts of Christmas albums, including Take 6’s He Is Christmas. Their a capella rendition of “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” was worth the price of the album, and then some. (Didn’t know it at the time, so I suspect the CD was on sale. Heh.)

This video is pretty good, but the album version is even better. And I love the overall arrangement of the piece. Simply beautiful.

Seven Christmas Songs I Love (Plus 2) – Part 4

For the most part, if an album is primarily Christmas/winter holiday music, I declare the whole thing “Christmas” and play it from Veteran’s Day to Epiphany. So quite a few “winter” songs songs get clumped in like this. I’m not the only one who does this – look at poor “Jingle Bells” and “Let it Snow” – always played at Christmas, but not any other time.

(I was amused when gregmce did his list and had “Linus and Lucy” as his final song on the list. That’s probably the only exception that I make to my music classification rule. To me, it’s NOT a Christmas song and thus gets stuffed in with my regular music and not in with my holiday songs. Go figure.)

Today’s song is not a Christmas (or Hanukkah or solstice, etc) song, but one about the changing seasons. I was looking for a Christmas album that was guitar instrumental and purchased Craig Chaquico‘s Holiday, sound unheard (like “sight unseen,” only musical). Although the album wasn’t quite what I was looking for, it had a piece called “Nonesuch/Ladies’ Bramzel,” which featured a children’s choir doing a round. This piece quickly became one of the Christmas Songs that I Love despite not being a Christmas song.

Seven Christmas Songs I Love (Plus 2) – Part 3

I’m one of those weirdos who enjoys it when a musician or band that I love takes on a Holiday Album. Or even just a Holiday Song. Some of them are wonderful (The Lovemongers, formerly Heart, produced the lovely album Here is Christmas in 1998) while others are tolerable (Paul McCartney, take a bow). I tend to avoid the horrible ones.

But for all of these, my favorite is and has been since I first saw it when I was very young, “Riu Chiu” as sung by the Monkees. I remember trying to record it off of the TV so that I could listen to it, and later getting it from a video recording. But then I was delighted when Rhino Records released Missing Links Vol 2, and there was “Riu Chiu.” (There were quite a few other songs on that album that I love, too, but “Riu”‘s the only Christmas one.)

Some of my other favorites, that don’t quite make the Seven (Plus 2) list, include The Eurythmics doing “Winter Wonderland,” Sting doing “Gabriel’s Message,” and the one that would be included if I had done Seven (Plus 3), Alison Moyet doing “The Coventry Carol.” Interesting that they’re all from the same album… (Actually, it’s the only Very Special Christmas album that I own in its entirety.)

Seven Christmas Songs I Love (Plus 2) – Part 2

I suspect that many other Christmas music lovers have a particular singer or group that they identify with their childhood more than others. I suspect that for judiang that it is Johnny Mathis. For me, it’s Julie Andrews.

When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a nun, just like Julie Andrews. Heh. The fact that I wasn’t Catholic and Julie wasn’t a nun weren’t important then. Still, her Christmas albums are some of the most listened ones in my collection (next to Sesame Street and the Chipmunks, I suspect).

Trying to pick out one of Julie’s pieces to represent what I love about her renditions wasn’t easy. But I decided upon “Pat-a-Pan,” which is another Christmas Song that I Love. It was one of the first that I learned to play on the piano, as well. (But not, alas, on a fife or drum.)

Julie’s version is my favorite “Pat-a-Pan,” but I must admit that David Archuleta gives her a good run for her money. Julie’s also the singer of my definitive “I Wonder as I Wander.”

(And I am sitting here amused by my eclectic tastes – King’s College Choir singing “Away in a Manger” followed by The Chipmunks “The Chipmunk Song.”)