Christmas Descended

By Belinda
Rainy day; all day--rain. I drove home at the end of the day in rain and dark. At the post office I picked up the mail just before they closed and the parking lot was dark, lit only by the light from the upper windows of St. Catherine's parish hall. There were parcels (I am in love with online shopping,) and my first real Christmas card.
Paul, Tippy and Tori were out for supper when I got home. We had the delight of their company tonight because Brenda was at a hockey game.
When they arrived home, I asked if they would like to decorate the tree. I made sure they knew they didn't have to feel they had to do it.
"Yes!" they cried in unison, "We want to do it. We love doing it." I was so glad.
I carried  boxes of ornaments and Christmas decorations downstairs, and two pairs of young hands scattered tissue paper and hung the eclectic assortment of decorations all over the tree. They managed to be both old familiar friends and shiny new things of wonder, all at the same time.
We opened plastic bags of Christmas pot pourri and inhaled the scent of cinnamon and cloves, the essence of Christmas.
The rain pattered on above us on the skylights, but down below, coloured lights twinkled and bright eyes almost outshone the lights. The house took on an increasingly Christmassy atmosphere as angels and candles covered shelves and our everyday ornaments took their place in the boxes.
Christmas descended on our home tonight, helped by the hands of children.
Brightest and Best of the Sons of the Morning  (one of my favourite carols)
Reginald Heber, 1811

Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,
Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid;
Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.

2. Cold on His cradle the dewdrops are shining;
Low lies His head with the beasts of the stall.
Angels adore Him in slumber reclining,
Maker and Monarch and Saviour of all.

3. Shall we not yield Him, In costly devotion
Odors of Edom and offerings divine,
Gems of the mountain and pearls of the ocean,
Myrrh from the forest and gold from the mine?

4. Vainly we offer each ample oblation,
Vainly with gifts would His favor secure.
Richer by far is the heart's adoration;
Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor.

5. Brightest and best of the sons of the morning,
Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid;
Star of the East, the horizon adorning,
Guide where our infant Redeemer is laid.

Comments

Marilyn said…
The helping hands of children make the very best Christmases. Lovely photos! Beautiful tree!
9:33 AM
mercygraceword said…
Thanks Belinda,
despite having grown up Anglican I don't recall ever hearing this carol - you sent me directly to You-tube to listen to it and it is beautiful.

Deborah
9:47 PM
Belinda said…
Deborah, I learned it as an adult, when my father-in-law taught it to our choir one Christmas. And then I didn't hear it again. Years later I asked Uncle John (Paul's uncle) if he knew it. He gave me a Methodist hymnal that belonged to his deceased wife (and which I treasure) and the carol is there.

Sometimes I read the hymns just for the blessing of the words.
10:38 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Voyage

Image
Note from Belinda: I read this prayer yesterday and again today--and then I read it to Susan after cell group, when we were having our "second cup" of decaff coffee together. I knew that she'd love it. She has a framed picture on her office wall of a little blond haired girl in a sail boat on a stormy sea. A fatherly sailor,with a weather beaten face; in a gray sou'wester, holds her close, as he capably mans the tiller. This prayer reminds me of that picture and influenced what I wrote earlier today, when I used the metaphor of ebbing waves to describe a lack of consistency and my desire to crash over the sandbar into the peaceful pool on the other side.  ( Susan sent me a link to the painting, which was done by American impressionist Robert Reid in 1888.  It hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in NYC.) Be bless ed by the beauty of this prayer. OH LORD OF THE OCEANS, My little bark sails on a restless sea, Grant that Jesus may sit at the ...
Read more

Samson Beaver and his Family

Image
I first posted this in 2009, a little show and tell about one of my favourite photographs. Back then it hung on a wall, but now it's in my bathroom where I see it every morning! I'd forgotten the history behind the story, researched when I first posted this and thought that current readers might enjoy it--a story from a time when this land was still being discovered, not so very long ago. This photograph was taken by Mary Schaffer; artist, photographer, writer and naturalist, in 1907. It is of a Stoney Indian named Samson Beaver, with his wife Leah and daughter, Frances Louise. I bought the photo on a postcard, on a trip to British Columbia and it hangs framed, on the wall I face when sitting at my laptop. I love it. Don't you just feel as if you could gather Frances Louise up in your arms and cuddle her? I get a deep sense of peace and happiness when I look at this family, sitting in the grass of a long ago fall. They are dressed in their best, beautiful c...
Read more

Ere Zij God--Glory to God in the Highest! A Dutch Carol

Image
By Belinda This beautiful Dutch carol was shared today by a friend of Dutch ancestry, on Facebook. I had never heard it before but absolutely loved it. It moved me deeply, especially at the end after the crowd leaves the church and then breaks into spontaneous singing again around a brazier, with the sound of chiming church bells in the background. Listen to it with headphones or a good speaker to get the full effect of the harmonies. And happy first Sunday in Advent!
Read more