Apologies, I wanted to start this on Sunday but got a bit sidetracked with other things.

Basically, the idea is to post pretty much what you like, as long as it is relevant to Advent and Christmas: music, poetry, quotes, pictures, appalling jokes, personal memories/anecdotes, and just general thoughts. (Please remember to adhere to the forum rules)

If you have several things you’d like to post, try to spread them out over the next three weeks, please.

Have fun. ‘Tis the season to be jolly…

To start the ball rolling…I might have posted this before, but I love it and so did a lot of my pupils.

Animals Singing “The Twelve Days of Christmas”

I have this incredible ability to predict what’s inside a wrapped Christmas present.
It’s a gift !

Regards Steve

My favorite alternative Christmas song is ‘Duvet Know it’s Christmas?’

It’s a cover.

My Dad wasn’t into anything highbrow, but he had loads of LPs and box sets from World Record Club and Reader’s Digest (their “Hundred Greatest Classics” set was a bit like listening to Classic FM for a day! )

Anyway, he had this album called “For It Is Christmas”, long gone but I managed to find images of the sleeve.

Once Christmas preparations were under way, I used to beg him to play it. To me as a child, the excerpts from Dickens and other writers, along with carols from other countries as well as ours, were quite magical.

One I was enormously fond of was the piece by Dylan Thomas, an extract from “A Child’s Christmas in Wales”. Here is the whole thing, read by an iconic Welsh voice:

Amanda (Mrs. Jkbarnes) and I have a tradition of watching The Lion In Winter every Christmas Eve. It’s one of our mutually favorite movies and its mention by me was what grabbed her eye online when we met. The dialogue is so smart and so expertly delivered by an amazing cast.

Amor Vincit Omnia wrote: ↑Thu Dec 05, 2024 9:33 pm My Dad wasn’t into anything highbrow, but he had loads LPs and box sets from World Record Club and Reader’s Digest (their “Hundred Greatest Classics” set was a bit like listening to Classic FM for a day! )

Anyway, he had this album called “For It Is Christmas”, long gone but I managed to find images of the sleeve.

That’s a wonderful story, Steve! If you keep an eye on Discogs, a copy of the album just might turn up.

Rules of Whamageddon

The 1st Rule
The objective is to go as long as possible without hearing WHAM's Christmas classic; "Last Christmas".

The 2nd Rule
The game starts on December 1st, and finishes at the end of December 24th. Use your local timezone, if you'd like.

The 3rd Rule
Only the original version applies. Enjoy other remixes and covers.

The 4th Rule
You're out as soon as you recognise the song.

^^^ I was out on December 2nd. I went to the gym and they had the radio playing.

jkbarnes wrote: ↑Thu Dec 05, 2024 9:45 pm Amanda (Mrs. Jkbarnes) and I have a tradition of watching The Lion In Winter every Christmas Eve. It’s one of our mutually favorite movies and its mention by me was what grabbed her eye online when we met. The dialogue is so smart and so expertly delivered by an amazing cast.


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My all time favorite movie.

Christmas tree reflected.

One of my favorite books in my youth was “British Hit Singles”, a list of all singles to have been in the British music charts since 1952. I found the facts fascinating and pored over various chart positions of my favorite artists. With streaming and the frequent chart re-entries (including many around Christmas), I suspect such a book would be almost impossible to compile now.

For some reason I cannot remember, one Christmas I decided to print from this book the complete chart history of the 1960s English rock group Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. I stuck this onto a piece of cardboard, crudely tied it on a string and surreptitiously hid it in my parents’ Christmas tree.

My father wasn’t very pleased at all when he found it, I guess for ruining the aesthetic or something. But since then, and now some thirty-ish years later, they still hang it every year. Some unique, peculiar Christmas ornament that not even I can explain.

I love singing and I’ve belonged to choirs for most of my adult life. I’m usually happiest tucked away in a good bass section where everyone knows what they’re doing. However, we’ve always had an ad hoc staff choir at school, which I still help with: we do the harmony parts for choral items and congregational carols. The other gents can sing but are not “singers”, so I have to try to lead them a bit.

Anyway, a year or two back the musical director announced that she wanted the choir to do the Song of the Nuns of Chester, a wonderful mediaeval plainsong. Different sections in unison for different verses, some whole choir verses…and a male voice solo on one verse!

Massive church, about 800 people including all your colleagues and pupils, no instruments to pitch, just your voice. You cannot screw up or chicken out. It was very scary and exposed. And it was OK.





And here’s a beautiful setting by Australian composer Andrew Ford, from his cycle “Wassails and Lullabies”. I’ve sung in the chorus for this a couple of times. The slightly off-key tubular bells are a neck-hair moment!

Amor Vincit Omnia wrote: ↑Thu Dec 05, 2024 9:33 pm My Dad wasn’t into anything highbrow, but he had loads of LPs and box sets from World Record Club and Reader’s Digest (their “Hundred Greatest Classics” set was a bit like listening to Classic FM for a day! )

Anyway, he had this album called “For It Is Christmas”, long gone but I managed to find images of the sleeve.


IMG_1116.jpeg

IMG_1117.jpeg

Once Christmas preparations were under way, I used to beg him to play it. To me as a child, the excerpts from Dickens and other writers, along with carols from other countries as well as ours, were quite magical.

One I was enormously fond of was the piece by Dylan Thomas, an extract from “A Child’s Christmas in Wales”. Here is the whole thing, read by an iconic Welsh voice:

Here you go Steve - https://soundcloud.com/cowboystyle/for-it-is-christmas

@richtel That’s amazing! Thank you so much. I just listened to the beginning and it was like stepping back into childhood! I’ll listen to it in bed tonight. Probably be an emotional wreck!

Thank you!