Christmas Rose
It’s a challenge to write a Christmas Eve post that has nothing to do with standing tall in tough times. Except that singing is the tallest way to stand that I can think of.
This opens the door to the subject of favorite Christmas carols. Raised as a Christian Scientist and now one of those in awe of the great enigma, a universe of consciousness, I love music. For me, Christmas carols, along with grand old hymns, have always brought peace and solace. (Fun Fact: Mary Baker Eddy wrote her own lyrics to the hymns we sang in church. I still don’t know the original words.)
Here’s my list of favorite carols:
Here We Come a-Carolling – an old English wassailing song.
God Rest, You Merry Gentlemen – English carol, Sir John Stainer.
Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming – 15th century German hymn.
The Coventry Carol – text by Robert Croo, 1534.
Good King Wenceslas – Swedish hymn, lyrics by Dr John Mason Neale, 1582
Angles We Have Heard on High – claims an origin in the 2nd century; known as the Westminster Carol.
The Holly and the Ivy (both score versions) – the version in my mother’s carolling book (published 1935) is the pagan carol of Old French.
I’d sing them for you now if I was brave enough. Maybe on a YouTube channel some day.