Simply Sunday - Music of Christmas

"And His name will be called Wonderful Counsellor,

Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace..."

(from the ancient book of Isaiah)

There was a time years ago when I sang in a choir. And the most exciting time of the year was getting ready for the annual Singing Christmas Tree, a popular event in our region that had spanned a couple of decades by the time I'd joined.

Our music director always knew how to create a pleasing, stirring combination of well-loved carols alongside modern pieces composed in honor of the Christ Child.

One such 20th century piece composed by Rodger Strader came from a Christmas musical entitled King of Love. "It's beautiful words, music and narration combined with the glorious orchestral arrangements by Bob Krogstad have made this a timeless Christmas classic."

From that musical, I forever fell in love with the piece entitled Wonderful Name. We'd sung it many times, yet it always touched me at the core. From the first words, "Mary was the first to hear it, name from heaven above..." to the last note, I'd have such an anticipation. It felt like I wanted to burst with love, with joy, with exuberant praise.

I didn't think of it at the time, but people have honored this Name for centuries and there I was, having my opportunity to join my voice to theirs. You can well imagine, then, my great delight to discover the song online.

On this second Sunday of Advent, I offer it to you as my gift, with the hope that you will also experience its beauty. I give you Wonderful Name.

Happy Day,

Brenda

Advent 2010: Restoring the Joy

I am all excited as the Christmas season approaches this year!

But I do realize that sometimes it's harder to get in the Christmas spirit, especially when Life seems to load us down with problems and circumstances that hardly bear thinking about. And if the demands on our time, energy and pocketbooks are already heavy, at this time of year with all its expectations, it weighs even heavier.

As my dear mom used to say when one more thing would go wrong, "Sometimes it's enough to take the joy right out of living!"

So... if your life is feeling as heavy as a fruitcake and your joy seems as far flung as the star of Bethlehem, I invite you to stop by HERE every day this month as I'll be sharing a few thoughts and tips that I find helpful in restoring my own joy when it gets a bit thin on top.

It will be a little like opening a new window on an advent calendar. And of course, it's my hope that when you 'open' that window you'll find something that puts a lightness in your step, a twinkle in your eye, and the  joy back in your heart.

Wishing you J-O-Y to your world!

Hugs,

Brenda

xox

December 1st...

It's the first of December and here are a few first thoughts as we start the season in earnest:

 

The day started out... with skies all pearly gray, Miss Kitty curled in a ball beside me, and me savoring a cup of freshly brewed coffee and toasted fruit bread topped with cheddar cheese.

The banner at the top... is one of my favorite pictures of Christmas. It's the record album cover of our family's first Christmas album (back from the early sixties). As a young child, I loved looking at that picture and daydreaming as I listened to the singers warble tunes and words of old carols not yet familiar. (Postscript: If the banner is no longer there, click here for a look.

At Christmas, I like to... attend at least one concert where I can hear some of the beautiful carols and music of the season. Sometimes it's Handel's Messiah or Bach's Christmas Oratorio, and sometimes it's a community concert.

My favourite character in the Nativity story is... Mary. I have often marveled at her great courage to say to the angel, Gabriel, after he'd told her she would become the mother of Jesus, "Be it unto me according to your word." Such trust and, as I say, courage.

One favourite Christmas memory... It's just days before Christmas; the air outside is frostier than an A&W Root Beer mug, and inside the welcome breath of warm air rises from the old coal furnace.

Mom is making supper in the kitchen. Otherwise it's quiet in our little farmhouse and, for the moment, this little girl is sitting perfectly content in the peaceful ambiance of our front room. Feeling safe and cozy, the world looks beautiful from where I sit in the very center of the couch -- gazing at the ribbons of tinsel shimmering in the glow of a single strand of round sugar-glass tree lights.

In this contemplative mood... I think about the pictures I've been studying on holiday greeting cards -- artists' renditions of little towns of Bethlehem with midnight skies and light streaming from tiny earthen windows. I muse about the shepherds who were the first to hear angels heralding good tidings. And, of course, I wonder about the Baby Jesus and envision him asleep in a manger where cows and sheep eat.

It turns out that all these years later, I still love to sit perfectly still in the cozy darkness of night with just those little tree lights twinkling... ponderin', dreamin', and delightin' in all the wonder of this time of year.

 

Let the countdown begin in earnest...

I Love Winter Sunrises

Look who's getting up
Stretching fiery colors across the eastern sky...

With promises of a beautiful day.

"Watching the clock is not the same as watching a sunrise"

~ Sophia Bedford Pierce

I just started a new book from the library entitled Dawn Light: Dancing with Cranes and Other Ways to Start the Day. I enjoyed author Diane Ackerman when she used to post publish articles in the classic Victoria magazine. Now I have the delight of reading one of her books.

"In an eye-opening sequence of personal meditations through the cycle of seasons, celebrated storyteller-poet-naturalist Diane Ackerman awakens us to the world at dawn, bring into stunning focus a time of day that many of us literally and metaphorically sleep through." (inside front cover)

"Ackerman's essays awaken us to a fresh awareness, saying: Pay attention, these ordinary sights are marvelous." ~ Publisher's Weekly

Yes, I want to pay attention and see with fresh awareness the beauty of these ordinary sights!

Wishing you a beautiful day!

Brenda

xox

Photos:  © Brenda C Leyland 2010 

Still Enjoying Monet

I found a treasure when I found this book entitled "Monet's Table, The Cooking Journals of Claude Monet (Claire Joyes and Jean-Bernanard Naudin.)

Not only did Claude Monet know how to create delightful art on a canvas, he knew what made great art in a dining room -- good food, lovely table settings, and a host of congenial friends with which to share it all.

"They came to dine in almost ritual form, first visiting Monet's studio and the greenhouses, then having lunch at 11:30 (the time the family always dined, to enable Monet to make the most of the afternoon light). Tea would later be served under the lime trees or near the pond." Excerpt from front cover

Of course these happy times came a long time later in his career. There is a story about Monet and his struggling artist friends -- they all knew how to eat beans for days on end, so they could scrape enough coins together to buy paints and canvas for their ever-hungry artistic muse.

See the blue-trimmed yellow dishes in the bottom corner of the photo below? This pic shows a artistically-laid table in Monet's dining room.

Now... just imagine the excitement my former housemate and I experienced years ago, when we stumbled upon the same pattern of dishes in a local department store.

We snapped them up for our own entertaining, and though our table might not have included such auspicious guests as Monet's, those blue-rimmed dishes tell their own tales of good food, pretty table settings, and congenial company. Mmm... maybe it was the dishes!

Don't you just love it when you go to someone's house for dinner and they've created a beautiful table for the occasion? It adds to the whole pleasure of eating. Monet knew that. Maybe that's one reason why I love him -- he seemed to know that our lives are enhanced when every area is touched by beauty.

Catch a glimpse of it today...

 Brenda