A Christmas Carol

"Jo--ooo--oy to the world!...."
That was my father in the shower a couple of weeks ago. Reason enough for me and my Mom to share a smile, least of all because he inadverently slipped into "O come all ye faithful.." halfway through the first stanza. No, this was because it heralded the Season.
Just like the first swallow is a sign of summer and the first falling brown leaf a sign of autumn, at my home, my Dad having a go at a Christmas carol full-throttle in the shower is a sure sign that Christmas has begun. Time to rummage for that Jim Reeves CD....

The first noel the angels did say,

Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay.

Iam in charge of the carolling effort as part of the Christmas celebrations at office. We are a random group of enthusiastic professionals who 'pretend' to sing Christmas hymns. A unique challenge by itself, with quite a few of my colleagues having never heard, let alone sang, a carol in their lives. It cracks them up (me too, I must admit) that backing vocals for "Jingle Bells" could mean something as insanely ludicrous as 'jing-a-ling-a-ling' and 'ho-ho-ho-ho'. As a result, our practice sessions thus far have resembled exercises in laughter therapy more than attempts at stringing a couple of songs together.
Fingers crossed for tommorow. I'll be happy as long as no rotten eggs are thrown at us. Hopefully, people will be distracted by Santa.

Silent night, holy night,

All is calm, all is bright.

The choir conductor raises his hands. An expectant silence. The opening note is being mentally hummed by every chorister. The hands fall and the choir bursts into song.
Singing in a serious choir is a grand experience. (New Year resolution to myself - gotto join one of the city choirs again!) And Christmas is the best time to soak in the music.I sing with the tenors (a pseud at that, because I need a falsetto to hit the really high notes). But right in the middle of the "Hallelujah Chorus", I sometimes step out of myself and listen to the other parts playing, while I keep singing by rote. Surreal!! The altos, sopranos and basses seem to be in worlds of their own. Each individual tune goes back and forth, clashing with each other, cutting across octaves, blending and meshing, bursts of sound interspersed with pregnant pauses,....a group of writhing snakes entwining among themselves is the analogy that comes to mind...err...But the end result is never anything short of gorgeous!

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer,

Had a very shiny nose,

And if you ever saw it,

You would even say it glows.

So yeah, Christmas carols keep hitting me at several levels every year. There's a lot I can forego during December but a Christmas without carols is close to unimaginable! It's the raison de saison!

Season's greetings and a very, merry Christmas to all!!