My tree is up.
It is hard for me to convey how happy this makes me. I want to sleep by it, so that I can see it when first I open my eyes. I want to lie beneath it so that I can smell the pine (yes, I have a freshly cut tree. For some reason yet to be discerned I like to keep the stumps I cut from the bottom... the stump of Jesse perhaps?). I want to play nothing but Christmas music, or music I can interpret Christmasly-- my own sly mixes such as the following:
O Come O Come Emmanuel, sung by Sufjan Stevens
You Can't Always Get What You Want, by the Rolling Stones
Christmas Time is Here, sung by Diane Reeves
Winter Hunter, by Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter
Christmas In America, by Melissa Etheridge
Diamond in the Rough, by Shawn Colvin
Greensleeves, by Cyrus Chestnut and Friends
Ginger Bread Boy, by Bobby Watson
River, by Joni Mitchell
Christmas in Washington, by Joan Baez
The Christians and the Pagans, by Dar Williams
Silver Bells, played by Aaron Neville
After the Gold Rush, sung by k.d. lang
All That We Let In, by the Indigo Girls
Planctus Pellegrin, by Therese Schroeder-Sheker
Il Est Né, le Divin Enfant, by Dave Koz
If We Make it Through December, sung by Holly Cole
Let it Snow, sung by Michael Franks
What is this Fragrance, sung by Holly Cole
OK, maybe not so sly. But it means the good part of the season to me. This beautiful tree, that makes me not want to leave its side. A tiny foretaste of the light in the darkness.
8 comments:
"Jesus Christ, the Apple Tree" by the Rankin Family is pretty wonderful too.
It's sweet to think of you wanting to sleep by your tree. Ours is up, still only with lights, and I think it's going to stay this way. Enjoy!
Oh, I'd love to find the Rankin family's version of that song. I had now idea they recorded it!
great selection of music.
I don't ahve a tree this year, and I'm missing it.
Thanks for commenting over at the flue. I'm excited to read your blog. I almost took cecelia as my blogging name--patron saint of music, and the name of a hurricane that I was caught in as a small child!
I just discovered your blog. As a clergywoman for 17 years and mother for 21, may I just give you some encouragement about getting through Advent/Christmas: DO take your days off every week, minimum 24 hours where you don't even think about church, 36 hours is better. Let stuff go undone. It's a good long-term strategy. And growing churches and growing kids are both long-term occupations. Go for a good long walk, take a nap, bake some cookies even if it's from a bag mix. Take care!
Thank you for all you share and encourage me so.
Oh, how sweet! I actually did sleep by my tree one Christmas eve. I didn't put my tree up this year. I have some decorations, but not many.
Reading your post almost makes me want to get mine out of the storage closet. Almost :).
Your song list makes me envious!
I'd particularly like to hear Dianne Reeves singing "Christmas Time is Here". And Michael Franks singing anything Christmasy--I haven't listened to him in a long time!
I love your playlist! (In fact I think I will go over to Rhapsody and try to listen to as many as are available there.)
Enjoy your tree!
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