Merry Christmas!

     Just quick post on this cold Christmas morning to say Merry Christmas! Hope all is well with you and yours on this clear, cold morning. Enjoy the day!

 

     A good Charles Dickens quote I read in a short article in the NY Times this morning on the author and Christmas: 

“Lost friend, lost child, lost parent, sister, brother, husband, wife, we will not so discard you!” he wrote. “You shall hold your cherished places in our Christmas hearts, and by our Christmas fires; and in the season of immortal hope, and on the birthday of immortal mercy, we will shut out Nothing!”

If you like Christmas music in any way (which, if you don't, you're a monster), you must listen to Sufjan Stevens' Songs for Christmas collection. Absolutely one of the best. 

And All the Bells on Earth Shall Ring!

     If I were to go to school again, it might be to study the origins and evolution of Christmas carols over time, and maybe Christmas traditions in general. Probably not, but it is pretty interesting. From wikipedia:

"I Saw Three Ships (Come Sailing In)" is a traditional and popular Christmas carol from England. A variant of its parent tune "Greensleeves", the earliest printed version of "I Saw Three Ships" is from the 17th century, possibly Derbyshire, and was also published by William B. Sandys in 1833.^[1][2] The lyrics mention the ships sailing into Bethlehem, but the nearest body of water is the Dead Sea about 20 miles away. The reference to three ships is thought to originate in the three ships that bore the purported relics of the Biblical magi to Cologne Cathedral in the 12th century.


Here's the Sufjan Stevens version, and if there's a better rendition out there I'd like to hear it.