I am a Fan of OK, GO Now

Remember this video? It went viral.

Well, take a gander at THIS! It is Made of Awesome!

Favorite Songs

Fox News has a little video up about their least favorite Christmas songs. But I'd rather go with something The Anchoress asked:

What is your favorite song(s) at Christmas, and why?

Here are my answers. And, yes, it's plural because how can you pick a favorite? It's like picking a favorite child!

• "Silent Night" This is a beautiful piece, and it never fails to make me cry when I sing it at Midnight Mass. The third verse just melts my heart!
  
  Silent Night, Holy Night
  Son of God, Love's pure Light
  Radiant beams from Thy Holy Face
  With the dawn of redeeming Grace
  Jesus, Lord, at Thy Birth!
  Jesus, Lord, at Thy Birth!
  
  
• "O, Holy Night" How can you not get chills when you hear them proclaim:
  
  Fall on your knees and hear the angels' voices!
  
  
• "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" I love this song for one of the last verses because it reminds me of what we're celebrating. It sums up the beginning of the Gospel the way the Alleluia Chorus sums up the end:
  
  Christ by highest Heaven adored
  Christ, the Everlasting Lord
  Late in time, behold Him come!
  Offspring of the Virgin's womb
  Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see!
  Hail, the Incarnate Diety!
  Pleased, as Man, with men to dwell
  Jesus, our Emanuel!
  Hark! The herald angels sing!
  Glory to the newborn King!
  
  
• "O Come, All Ye Faithful" I am tearing up right now as I think of when I'll sing the following tonight:
  
  Yea, Lord, we greet Thee
  Born this happy morning!
  Jesus, to Thee be all glory gi'en
  Word of the Father
  Now in flesh appearing
  O come, let us adore Him
  O come, let us adore Him
  O come, let us adore Him: Christ the Lord!
  
  
• "The Little Drummer Boy" No, it's not a hymn as the rest of this list has been. But it's always made me cry, even as a child. When I was a little girl learning to play the piano, I learned this song. I played it with VIGOR! (Probably a bit more loudly than necessary or what is meant to be.) But I played it for Him, you see. I played my best for Him, and I'll bet He smiled at me, just like the boy in the song. This one is to remind us that no gift, when given to Christ with love, is too small for Him. He can take the simplest of gifts and magnify them.
  
  
  
• We aren't called to great things, but to do small things with great love. This song, as cheesy as some people might think it is, reminds us of that. And, in these times of economic difficulties for many, it's a good thing to remember at Christmas. We aren't called to give great, big gifts. We're called to give good gifts. And the greatest Gift is Love, which is freely given to all. The love we give our children (as well as the gift of faith) is the greatest gift they receive. When the toys they get this year are long gone and in a trash heap, it's going to be the love you gave them that lives on. They can do without another DS game. They can do without the iPod or the computer. But they can't do without our love.

Tell me in the comments:

What are your favorite Christmas songs, and why?

Also, don't forget to vote in the poll on cookies. I'll put the recipe up after Christmas. Because it's never too late to make cookies. ;)

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Free Christmas Music!

Amazon has free Christmas music downloads, but I do feel obligated to warn you that they are not all really Christmas music. The Boxmasters' single seems anti-Christmas and actually has an "Explicit" warning on it!

That said, it's still free downloads, and their handy-dandy MP3 download tool makes it easier to do (and loads it straight into iTunes for you).

Don't worry (as I did) that you missed a few days...Amazon allows you to download all the songs so far this month!

There is a really pretty "Coventry Carol" available that I would highly recommend as a remedy to the noise and bustle that seems to be everywhere. Just look for the album cover you see to the left.

"ButNowIKnowFourBecauseOscarTaughtMeTheWordForLip -USTA!"

The girls are watching the Silly Song Countdown from Veggie Tales today.  They've been on a Big Idea kick for the last week.  Not that I'm complaining!  I love the veggies!

Our priest is Polish and has confirmed what Larry says in this song.  

I cannot, however, guarantee that I spelled that word correctly.  So if I did spell it wrong, feel free to correct me in the comments section.

Kind of Puts "I am the Bread of Life" to Shame, Doesn't It?

I wish my parish would occasionally sing something this grand.  But we can't even do that for First Communion because the children are all spread out on different dates, so there's no specific "First Communion Mass."

Hat tip to First Things blog

Political Note

I loaded a video onto YouTube (been floating around in my head for a while).  It's political in nature, so you can see it here:

Just Uploaded to YouTube

And it might not last.  Apparently, I already got caught for using copyrighted material.

And it is BLOCKED and is not showing up on my YouTube channel.  Wow.  It was done in about 45 minutes.

O Antiphon: Emmanuel

O Antiphon: King of the Gentiles

O Antiphon: Eastern Star

O Antiphon: Key of David

O Antiphon: Root of Jesse

Choir Goodbye (Still Public School)

Our choir had a tradition of ending all our concerts with this song, and much like this video clip, all alumni were invited to join the choir onstage to sing with us.  I can still sing the alto along with this to this day, so I'm ready in case I ever go back and attend a choir concert.  ;)

Christmas in Public Schools

I am always a bit miffed, and even somewhat surprised, at the animosity shown in some public schools towards Christmas.  No religious songs, some schools don't even want Rudolph or Santa ... it's so foreign to me.  When I was in high school, I sang in choir for two years and we did Christmas shows.  We did sing some Jewish songs (I remember singing a beautiful piece called "Adonai" one year), but mostly, it was Christmas.  A Christmas show.  With Christmas songs.  And a lot of them were (gasp!) religious.

I also know that there are some areas where this is still the case.  It's most likely in the more rural areas of the country, but it's not something Fox News will bring up with their "War on Christmas" specials.  Even Fox has no idea what life in fly-over country is like.  Out here in my town, we have a Christmas parade, a Christmas tree, and a day of Christmas celebration downtown with a craft fair.  One year, the mayor of town wished everyone a merry Christmas and finished up with, "And may God bless us all," as he lit the tree.

Anyway, here are a few of the songs I sang with my choir for the Christmas shows:

(I like this "Silent Night" in part because of the ASL.)






I'm pretty sure we also did this song, and the particular arrangement below is just heavenly!

We did some secular, wintery type songs, too, but these are just some of the flat-out hymns we sang. We had a particularly nice arrangement of "God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen" and "Good Christian Men, Rejoice" combined. I wish I could find THAT!

O Antiphon: Adonai

O Antiphon: Wisdom

Below, I mentioned the O Antiphons.  I saw this at Jean's place, and wanted to post it here.  It's beautiful to listen to.  :)

Hymns and Chant

I'm fascinated with the hymns I find on YouTube from our Catholic brethren in the Middle East.  Here are a couple for your listening pleasure:

Then there's also this. Beautiful!

Christmas Music!

Seen multiple places, posted here for my girls:

Found!

Free streaming concert from 1984: Weird Al!

Here's a sampling:

I remember seeing him in concert - once at Great Adventure in NJ, once at Pleasure Island at Disney World (where I got his autograph) - and being amazed at the talent of his band. Quite possibly one of the MOST talented group of musicians I've ever seen perform. Just look at the variety of musical styles they cover. And as far as I know, his band is the same as it's always been.

Byzantine Hymn of the Nativity

The ancient hymns of the Middle East are among the most beautiful I've ever heard.  As I read the words the angels proclaimed as chanted in this hymn, I couldn't help but tear up at the idea that He who holds the world in His hand was a helpless babe in a filthy stable, feeding on the milk of His Mother's breast.

It. Blows. My. Mind.

Details on the Byzantine Christmas hymn can be found here.

Continuing With My Obsession

Oh, this is really lovely!  I'd never really listened to this song before.  I think I might need to download some more iTunes music!