Thursday, December 18, 2008

Christmas Carols

Anne Estelle Singing
by
Mary Engelbreit


I've lost my voice. With a burst of middle-age hormones I went from a strong alto to a raspy baritone in the middle of my credenza. And at Christmas time I want to sing!

It's an old refrain. I didn't appreciate what I had until it went missing. Happily my choir can get along nicely without me now; they each carry their parts beautifully. It wasn't always that way.

One year our family went Christmas caroling to the neighbors. At the first door we burst into a rendition of Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The kids were enthusiastic for the first few bars, but something dimmed as we sang "you would even say it glows." By name-calling time there were only a couple of little voices left, and it was just Dee and me warbling "then one foggy Christmas Eve..."

Have you ever noticed how long that song is? I did, as we were squeaking out "Won't you guide my sleigh tonight..." while our audience stood barefoot, with their front door open to the wind, impatiently waiting for us to hand over the cookies and go home.

I do my Christmas caroling in the car now.

A Winter Symphony
by
Sarah Brightman

I crank up the volume and pretend I'm a soprano!

Any favorites?

9 comments:

Ashlee said...

Have you tried Enya's new Christmas CD from this year? There are some really beatiful songs on there. The favorites in our house are The Chipmunk Song {Christmas Don't Be Late} and When Chrismtas Comes To Town from the Polar Express. My son digs the chipmunks and my daughter loves the Polar Express. :0)

Polly said...

Just give me a vacuum cleaner handle and turn on Barbra (she's finally got a Christmas cd) and I can belt out every song.

Tom and Julie said...

Willie Nelson (Pretty Paper), Amy Grant, Peter Breinholt, Neil Diamond, James Taylor, Frank Sinatra, Jewel....put those on with a warm fire....nothing better.

Beck said...

If you enjoy Sarah Brightman, you should try Michael Crawford's Christmas CD. It might be difficult to get past hearing "the Phantom" sing Christmas songs at first, but there are some lesser-known Christas carols and an amazing medley on the CD that make it worth having in your collection!

Sheri said...

We still listen to John Denver and The Muppets Christmas CD--corny, I know. (Good 'ol John) I love Enya, so I'll have to check out her Christmas CD. Thanks for the idea Ashlee.

Keri said...

OOOoooo, I'm also and Enya fan and didn't realize she had a Christmas CD.

I too have lost my voice, though I'm hoping it will return this week. If I'm fortunate it'll still be a good twenty years or so before I sing Bass next to Ryan in the choir.

Bev said...

Kristen Chenoweth has a new one out this year -- so does Harry Conick Jr --- lovely

mama jo said...

i have a question...will i 'find my voice' since i never had one?

Moon said...

It has always been a kind of dream of mine to do some of that traditional christmas caroling door to door but honestly, with the harsh winters we have here, our voices would freeze and our neighbours would be peeking through the keyholes to keep the warm in the house lol...was -30C here yesterday, and today we have gotten over a foot of snow lol
Merry Christmas too you!!