Making some time for a Christmas music post. While I treasure the old carols (Joy to the World; O Come, All Ye Faithful; Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, etc., etc.), the lesser-known pieces particularly appeal to me. These are in no particular order:

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence (yes, yes, @SnowAngel!)

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

In the Bleak Midwinter

The Huron Carol

Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming

Infant Holy, Infant Lowly

The Coventry Carol

While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night (How Great Our Joy!)

Long Time Ago in Bethlehem (Mary's Boy Child)

Gabriel's Message

Ding-Dong, Merrily on High

Carol of the Bells

♥

I have sung many of these in choirs and, whoa, the harmonies in some of the pieces are simply gorgeous. I'm getting goosebumps now, even thinking about them.  

Yes, indeed, @the-mad-poet, there is a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn on December 21. (See the Astronomy thread for more, especially as that week approaches. ) On my evenings walks the past weeks, I have been eagerly watching as these two giant planets are drawing closer together, and now as they tilt in to the western sky. Beautiful! (Just a caution, though: there are some questionable online articles that are presenting this sight in an inaccurate way. So, a heads up there.)

Now I have Christmas carols stuck in my head, which is a pleasant thing this time of year.

@Courtenay, I've heard of the Jupiter-Regulus Star of Bethlehem theory, along with several others. The Wiki article summarizes many of them well. (It brings to mind another memory of the season - in the 1970s University of Minnesota astronomy professor Karlis Kaufmanis would deliver his Star of Bethlehem lecture to packed halls each December. He was a proponent of the Jupiter-Saturn triple conjunction theory. His lectures were extremely popular because he gave technical info in a charming easy-to-understand way, and had a really cool accent (He was from Latvia). And he was a genuinely nice guy).

As Jo mentioned, some of the online articles about the upcoming conjunction are prone to hyperbole - a person with good vision should be able to resolve the two planets separately, and they won't be 'extraordinarily bright' (to quote an article). The novelty here is how close together they are. Incidentally, these conjunctions happen every 20 years, and the next one, in November 2040, won't be this close but should be impressive nonetheless.

Christmas is my favorite time of year! And not only because I'm not allergic to pine, holly, or poinsettia so it's the one time of year I'm safe around plants. I love the lights, the memories, the music, the cookies, etc.

Favorite food? Cookies! We have a variety we make every year, most of which are from the Betty Crocker Cookie Cook Book. Yule logs, which are basically a small sugar cookie with nutmeg and rum extract, candy cane, exactly what they sound like, vermont maple, I don't know why this became a Christmas cookie around here because sugar bush season wasn't until February or March where we lived as kids.

Favorite movie? Pretty much any version of A Christmas Carol. Although back when we had cable it was not unusual to have Turner Classic Movies on all the time because they played every single Christmas classic ever.

Funniest memory? One year the tree kept tipping over so my dad and brothers came up with this complicated rope contraption to hold it in place. I don't remember anyone tripping over the rope and bringing the whole thing down again so I guess they did a good job. We also used to leave our outside Christmas lights up all year round so nobody had to climb anything/deal with the scraggly bushes. It was very convenient when the pizza delivery guy couldn't find our house so we just told him to look for the Christmas lights in July.  

Favorite song? Carol of the Bells. My own personal Christmas playlist has multiple covers in a variety of styles. I also have most of the Pentatonix Christmas albums. Their rendition of Sugar Plum Fairy is one of my favorites.

Carol of the Bells

What is your favorite Christmas movie or TV show/episode? Top five movies: Stalag 17 (1953), Battleground (1949), We're No Angels (1955), Fitzwilly (1967), and Never Say Goodbye (1946). TV show episodes: Scarecrow and Mrs. King's The Long Christmas Eve (S1 E10) and The Six Million Dollar Man's A Bionic Christmas Carol (S4 E10).

I got my younger siblings a Roy Rogers blu-ray and BRCC instant coffee sticks for Christmas this year and I don't want them figuring out what's in the package before they open it, so the items were wrapped individually and then placed in a small box, wrapped that box, then that box was placed in a large box and wrapped again. It definitely doesn't look like what it is.   Now I need to figure out how to wrap a t-shirt for my dad.  

SnowAngel

19 days till Christmas!!!

What is your favorite Christmas decoration?

One of my all-time favorites has been the nutcrackers. My family has several up on the mantle, including one stern old town-watchman with a lantern and a halberd;  this guy came from Germany. My second favorite nutcracker is dressed more like a king, with a crown, a sword, and a gold shield stamped with an eagle. I guess the appeal mostly lies in the weapons...  

Carol of the Bells...I really like this version from Celtic Woman's A Christmas Celebration. It's so joyful and exuberant - and that violin solo while she's dancing around is pretty awesome too.

That collection is a standard in my car this time of year, and there are several songs ("O Holy Night", "O Come All Ye Faithful," and "Christmas Pipes") that I love to sing along to - and I can belt it out without being told I can't sing. 😉

I also like their version of "The Little Drummer Boy" which is a song I'm otherwise not terribly fond of for some reason.

I also enjoy the Casting Crowns live performance of I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.

15 days until Christmas!

Favorite Christmas books? One Shenandoah Winter by Davis Bunn, Tidings of Comfort by Davis Bunn, Pony Express Christmas by Sigmund Brouwer, The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski, The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado, and The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg. Oh, and Immanuel: Reflections on the Life of Christ by Michael Card.

Haven't done much Christmas baking yet, but hopefully today I or a sibling will be making peppernuts.  

SnowAngel

Has anyone here listened to the Waverly Consort? The group performed medieval and Renaissance Christmas carols on instruments of the period.  I went to two of their concerts years ago at Hope College in Michigan.  The group is now retired and unfortunately one of their lead performers passed away.  I play their music during the Christmas season and love their unique interpretation of the carols.

That's excellent, @narnian78! Really enjoyed listening.

I figure one good ancient carol deserves another... here's one I discovered several years ago, Als I Lay on Yoolis Night, from the 14th century. It helpfully has a modern translation in the video so we can follow the Middle English lyrics a bit more easily!!

@courtenay

It’s wonderful to hear something that is really from an old fashioned Christmas. Thanks for sharing the link, Courtenay. 🙂

@narnian78 You're welcome. I'm a great fan of the medieval English mystic Julian of Norwich and that carol is from approximately her time, so I like to think she might have known it, or other songs like it!

Posted by: @the-mad-poet

What is your favorite Christmas song? 

I think I’ll go with “Christmas Offering” by Paul Baloche, although there are other favorites as well:

• O Come, O Come Emanuel
• God Rest Ye Merry, Gentleman
• Good King Wenceslaus

I’d better stop before I end up with a long list.

Great choices, Narnian78 and Courtenay! I love finding medieval music groups and will definitely be checking those out.

Posted by: @the-mad-poet

What is your favorite Christmas decoration?

One of my all-time favorites has been the nutcrackers. My family has several up on the mantle, including one stern old town-watchman with a lantern and a halberd;  this guy came from Germany. My second favorite nutcracker is dressed more like a king, with a crown, a sword, and a gold shield stamped with an eagle. I guess the appeal mostly lies in the weapons...  

@the-mad-poet

ok, those sound like amazing nutcrackers. Can any of the weapons crack nuts, though?
That is the question. 

@narnian78 The Gloucester Wassail! Many thanks for posting that, because I've recently been trying to remember the name of it. I was in a theatre production of A Christmas Carol ten years ago. The songs were all English carols, and Wassail was probably the most boisterous in the entire show. The male ensemble sang it and danced all over the stage with their mugs. There was no actual ale on stage, but the actor playing the ale seller would hide Hershey's kisses in the cups and sneak them to the kid ensemble.