Christmas is coming Music plays a part

….. and the Geese are getting fat

Please to put a penny in an old man's hat.

If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do 

but if you haven't got a ha'penny then God bless you.

A rhyme learned at the knees of our parents and carried on for generation after generation.  Quoted and used at the appropriate time and season.  Poetry, rhymes, tales/stories all are a rich element in the tapestry of life and the change of the seasons.   Especially traditional tales, or ghost tales or the Night before Christmas.

A bit like hymns and Christmas Carols which also do the same and add colour, texture and voice to celebrating the seasons. For me  this is all part and parcel of the Christmas season which I think binds all the elements together from years ago to the everyday.

I thought to perhaps get you into the Christmas season a little more (even though you may not be ready for it).  Now that we are officially in Winter. I thought I would every so often in the run up to Christmas, pop up a favourite Carol by a favourite or new to me artist.  

I have a tradition here that I have followed for many years in that when I am doing the Christmas baking the bulk of which is carried out on Christmas Eve I have non-stop Christmas Carols on.  It helps with getting into the spirit of things and I have an occasional glass of Mulled wine, but not many as we do want the baking edible.

I am the same when I make the Christmas Cakes and Puddings.  You have to enter into the spirit of things get into the right mood.

Christmas in the country village is what I miss most and all that entails.  As I have said before I am a country girl who lives in the City not by choice but by circumstance.  You can take the girl out of the country but not the country out of the girl!  Going to the Carol concerts, taking part.  However there is community in a City too and although it is different it is a community.

I very much like folk music, country music it tells a story and holds you enthralled and so some of  my music choices may be new to you or the artists you may not know.  I have quite an eclectic mix

So to get you into the Christmas mood my first choice of Carol is:

The Holly and the Ivy by Loreena McKennit - a slightly different tune to the one we know so well but one which I think she does justice too.

I hope you enjoy it too.

Pattypan

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