Archives for December 2007

I’ve been holding off on putting up the tree. There are a few reasons for this, one is that the tree and it’s adornments were tucked away in the backest of beyond in my wardrobe and getting them down involved hassle. The second was that it really is a bit redundant putting up the tree just for oneself… Still, in view of my sentimental attachment to me decorations this is a weak argument… go back to point one.
The final and most compelling reason I’d held out was the anticipation of feline interference in not only the decorating process but at an ongoing level.
It would appear as though my fears are by no means groundless. Remains to be seen what state it will all be in when he’s home alone with it all…

Fi has posted her Christmas favourites this evening and as I was of a mind to do similar this week I’m following suit. I’m a big Christmas fan, not so much of going overboard with decorations and frills and furbelows but with all the things that make it a special time. The God stuff for sure, but the music, baby, the music is a big deal come Yuletide…
Counting down from number 5… Carol of the Bells. I heard this first on the Home Alone movie… dates me, for sure but there’s a catchyness about the track and this version of it done by Celtic Woman is no exception. I love hearing how others have arranged fabulous tracks. I plan on doing it in our choir’s Christmas repertoire eventually… we actually have to get the choir off the ground first…

Number 4… The Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. This is a dodgily recorded version of the ‘Soulful Messiah’ which is a brilliant cover of the oratorio, given the gospel treatment… have I said I used to sing in a choir like this???
Was the time of my life…

3. Walking in a Winter Wonderland. What is it about a white Christmas that just seems more… Christmassy? I think it’s our European heritage in the Antipodes that puts us crook… we really are young countries and our ancestors had white Christmases and we follow suit… this song says Christmas to me… I love too that this version is sung by one of my teen idols… Amy Grant.

Number 2 was a toss up. I could have put it in as number 1 but God always wins in these contests…
You can’t grow up in New Zealand without singing a Christmas folk song called Te Harinui. It recounts the bringing of the gospel (all that Jesus stuff) to New Zealand, not on a snowy night… not with angels… but in the words of Samuel Marsden, the first missionary to NZ. Fi, he preached this sermon up your way… guess that’s where Marsden Pt gets its name…
Anyway, couldn’t find a video or even a halfway decent track so I did what every Garage Band owning singer does… I made one for you. Red, this is for you… you asked me donkey’s ago to sing for you… and now I am… So, here it is, one night only. Deeleea Singular singing her homesick Christmas song… (PS… please forgive the tragic midi backing track… )

Number 1. Christmas is the God stuff for me. An outlandish tale of God stepping into the world all for the sake of ratbags like us. That’s some big love, right there.
There isn’t a song that captures it better for me than Silent Night. Josh Groban gives it his treatment here…