Monthly Archives: December 2010

Music on a Monday – What Can i Say?

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To be honest I don’t have much else to say today.

It’s Christmsa week – my fave time of year; and I’m winding down :)

I just wanted to leave you with the words of of a great song.

Immanuel by Michael Card
A sign shall be given
A virgin will conceive
A human baby bearing
Undiminished deity
The glory of the nations
A light for all to see
That hope for all who will embrace
His warm reality

Immanuel
Our God is with us
And if God is with us
Who could stand against us
Our God is with us
Immanuel

For all those who live in the shadow of death
A glorious light has dawned
For all those who stumble in the darkness
Behold your light has come

Immanuel
Our God is with us
And if God is with us
Who could stand against us
Our God is with us
Immanuel

So what will be your answer?
Will you hear the call?
Of Him who did not spare His son
But gave him for us all
On earth there is no power
There is no depth or height
That could ever separate us
From the love of God in Christ

Immanuel
Our God is with us
And if God is with us
Who could stand against us
Our God is with us
Immanuel

Immanuel
Our God is with us
And if God is with us
Who could stand against us
Our God is with us
Immanuel

Have a fantastic Christmas.
If you believe and worship Jesus i pray you’ll be blessed in this time.
If you don’t I would ask you to stop, just for a moment and consider the God who came to earth to save us .

Immanuel, our God is with us. And if God is with us, who can stand against us!

Music on a Monday – My Christmas Top Ten

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10. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting) – I love this cos it reminde me of my Mammy. She sang this every Christmas. She had such a great singing voice. Precious memories :) I sang it on the Christmas CD that our family made last year. A little tribute to her… but nowhere near as good.

9. Joy (Joy, God’s Great Joy) – Whitney Houston and the Georgia Mass Choir. Just FAB!!!

8. Sleigh Ride – Not the the rubbish version by the Spice Girls. Or any other sung version for that matter! The orchestral version by Leon Anderson. I have hilarious memories of playing along with this using key’s, pencils and a ruler for the ‘crack’ of the whip; and no I wasn’t 6. This was quite recently with a workmate. Her daughter is a percussionist…. we knew what we were doing you know….!!!

7. All I Want for Christmas is You – Now I’m not a big fan of Mariah Carey, but she landed on a winner with this one! The ultimate feel good Christmas song. And you quite forget that she’s actually sad cos she doesn’t have the one she loves with her but we’re all bopping around to it anyway. Brillo.

6. Driving Home for Christmas – I lived in the UK for 8 years and was homesick pretty much most of the time but going home for Christmas was just the best. This song, even now, makes me smile. It just reminds me of the journey and the excitement of travelling towards home.

5. Sans Day Carol – and old Cornish tune. Never have I heard it sung better than my brother’s recording of it on the family Christmas CD. The refrain is, “And Mary bore Jesus, our Saviour for to be”.
That’s Christmas in a nutshell my friends ;)

4. Infant Holy, Infant Lowly – the tune of this is so moving. And the way the lyrics and tune build up in the second half of the verse… magical. Only 2 verses but what a finish….”Thus rejoicing, free from sorrow, praises voicing, greet the morrow: Christ the babe was born for you, Christ the babe was born for you.”

3. Must Be Santa, Bob Dylan – This Song is so much fun!!! Best Audience Participation Christmas song since The 12 Days! If you haven’t heard it find it on You Tube. It’s the craic! :D

2. Hark!, the Herald Angels Sing – The best real Carol. It’s a little too high for me in places so I have to SING IT to hit the notes. So triumphant. Love it!

1. Silent Night – This is my fave. always makes me cry. It reminds me of Christmas as a kid. I remember going to midnight Mass and up until then the AMAZING life size crib didn’t have the baby Jesus in it. And on Christmas Eve they would put the little statue of the baby in the crib. And we’d all queue up to kneel in front of the crib to say a prayer. And i always associate that memory with Silent Night.
I rememeber even at a very young age knowing that this was something very very special. And I’m grateful to my parents that in our house the crib was as important as the tree.

We’re not in Narnia anymore…

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Well the thaw has set in. The weather man said it had started but only when I saw that our snowman’s head had fallen off was I convinced…!

As I looked out at the view which yesterday was dazzling and now just look cold and wet…. something occured to me….

The ‘thaw’ in Narnia wasn’t like this!

There wasn’t horrible dirty slushiness. It went straight from Winter to Springtime. From snow covered pine trees and a frozen river to Apple blossom on trees and streams of clean running water.

Not a headless snowman in sight.

I suppose we’ll just have to put up with the ugly mess for a while.

No sign of Aslan either :(

Confined to Barracks

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Like a lot of people on the East coast of Ireland, I was stranded in my home today. I didn’t even try to get the car out of the drive, cos I didn’t think I’d be able to go to get it out of the estate or up the hill. The news said there was trouble on the N7, the M50 and the N3. Basically my route to work!!!
So I stayed in my pjs, looked out at the snow, logged in remotely and did some work, made the smallest snowman in history and listened to Christmas FM! It was lovely.

Problem is… this weather might also stop me from flying to Wales this weekend. In the last 2 days, the airport has been closed twice for a number of hours at a time. The airport may well be open tomorrow… but how will we get there? I mean we could try to get the car out of the drive, and then get out of the estate and then up the hill, then on to the N7 and on to the M50….. not looking good is it!

What is it about this weather?! ‘Ohhhhh I’d love to be snowed in!!!’ We love the idea of it and when it arrives we still love it… for about 24 hours! Then it just isn’t funny any more. People trying to get to work, and get home again, old people stranded in their homes, essential services disrupted, public transport at a stand still and I’m running out of milk!!!!!

So after my day of encapsulation what what have I learned?

1. Uggboot slippers are definitely the way to go
2. Working from home is something to aspire to
3. Snow is a bit like a giant cream cake; looks gorgeous but eventually you’ll get sick of it!
4. Building a snowman is harder than it looks
5. Being snowed in the definitely one of those, ‘be careful what you wish for….’ things
6. My husband is a saint!
7. No matter where I want to get to I need to get my car of the drive, out of the estate, up a hill……