Monday's Music Moves Me: Christmas Carols

Amanda at Bloggin’ with Amanda hosts Musical Monday – What Move’s You?. You can get the instructions by clicking here.

Lorie at The Shrewbridges of Celebration, FL told me about Monday's Music Moves Me, so here's another cool music blog meme to do!

In this last Monday before Christmas, I saved probably the most powerful Christmas hymn ever.  I never ceases to bring me to tears whenever I hear it, especially if a choir is singing it live. This is The Hendricks Symphonic Choir and Orchestra, performing Handel's Messiah - The Hallelujah Chorusl.   This is probably one of the best versions I've ever heard!

Enjoy and Merry Christmas to you all

Hallelujah Chorus Hymn

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

The kingdom of this world
Is become the kingdom of our Lord,
And of His Christ, and of His Christ;
And He shall reign for ever and ever,
For ever and ever, forever and ever,

King of kings, and Lord of lords,
King of kings, and Lord of lords,
And Lord of lords,
And He shall reign,
And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings, forever and ever,
And Lord of lords,
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings! and Lord of lords!
And He shall reign forever and ever,
King of kings! and Lord of lords!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Hallelujah!

First Day of Winter or Midwinter?

John and I have had this discussion from time to time over the years.


He swears December 21, the shortest daylight and longest night of the year, also known as the Winter Solstice is the middle of winter and not the first day of winter like we all think.


So, I went to Wikipedia to prove him wrong, and this is what I found.

Winter is a subjective term, so there is no scientifically established beginning or middle of winter but the winter solstice itself is clearly calculated to within a second. For Celtic countries, such as Ireland, the calendarical winter season has traditionally begun November 1 on Hallows eve orSamhain. Winter ends and spring begins on Imbolc or Candlemas, which is February 1 or 2. This calendar system of seasons may be based on the length of days exclusively. Most East Asian cultures define the seasons bysolar terms, with Dong zhi at the winter solstice as the middle or "extreme" of winter. This system is based on the Sun's apparent height above the horizon at noon. Some midwinter festivals have occurred according to lunar calendars and so took place on the night of Hōku (Hawaiian, the full moon closest to the winter solstice). And many European solar calendar midwinter celebrations still centre upon the night of December 24 leading into the December 25 in the north, which was considered to be the winter solstice upon the establishment of the Julian calendar.^{[citation needed]} In the JewishTalmud, Teḳufat Tevet, the day of the winter solstice, is recorded as the first day of the "stripping time" or winter season. Persian culture also recognizes it as the beginning of winter.


I was all set to show him how wrong he was and the Old Celts proved him right dammit!!


I'm still saying December 21 is the first day of winter!


What do you think?

Six Word Saturday

I am almost ready for Christmas!

Want to try your own Six Word Saturday? Go see Cate at Show My Face and link up!

Dear So and So: Hello? Are you there?

Dear Christmas,

HA!!  You thought you'd get the better of me this year and sneak up when I wasn't ready!  There are still 9 days to go and I have only a couple of things to do.  Of course, I'm not counting getting the tree out, decorating it, wrapping the gifts I've purchased.  BUT, I do have just about everything bought!  That has to count for something, right?  Right?  Hello?  Are you there?  Stop snickering!

deluding herself,

Joanie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Bills (aka electric, cable, car insurance, cell phone,oil, credit card, grocery)

You don't really care that I've used my support check to buy Christmas gifts for my family instead of giving it all to you,do you?  Hello???????

thinks shes screwed, but her kids will be happy,

Joanie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Fridays Guests,

I'm so glad most of you read my note last week on Dear So and So!  Most of you have been most generous!  So much so, that I might even be able to pay those bills I've just mentioned!

Thankful

Your server, Joanie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Table 71 on Tuesday,

You!  Yeah you!!  I saw that $5 bill on the table when I went to get your change.  I want to know why you gave me $53 for a $37 check.  When I came back with your $16 change, I thought you'd leave my tip in the book, but NO!!  You took it with you... all of it!!  You cheap bastard!  I hope your wallet gets stolen.

Still pissed,

Joanie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear John,

I know you meant well when you let me sleep for 2 hours on Wednesday afternoon.  Yes I was tired when I arrived at your place.  The bed looked so comfy when I was sitting there, bored out of my skull watching you play Mah Jongg.  I just wanted to close my eyes for a second.  Then I was awake until 3:30 am.  Gee, too bad my hurling myself around the bed toss and turning, trying to go to sleep kept you awake.

Love you lots! (yawn!!)

Joanie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Friends,
If you like Dear So and So, and want to give it a try, just pop over to Kat's Place on the other side of the pond, hook up with her Linky and add your own!  It's a great way to blow off steam, and you can read lots of other letters!

Love,

Joanie

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I Won!! I Won!!

My friend, Java, who's blog is called Never Growing Old  does a blog hop every Friday called Follow Friday: Forty and Over.  I've been participating for several weeks now.  Her blog is terrific!  You should check her out!


Anyway, each week, she randomly selects someone to be on the number 2 spot on the hop and she'll make him or her a button for their own blog.  This week, I was selected!!!  Java made me a button from my parasailing picture!  See?  Right  down here!  If you're of the mind to add buttons of some of the blogs you regularly read, please feel free to grab mine!!  If not, that's cool too!

This is it!  Isn't it great!

One Word Wednesday: Wish

Wish

"If wishes were horses, beggars would ride."

or

"Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight.  Wish I may, wish I might, make this wish I wish tonight."

Don't you wish that it was that easy to make things come true for you? When I saw the word for this week, this quote and that nursery rhyme came to mind right away, as did this song from the 60s, by Dusty Springfield.  I've always loved her songs.  This one in particular is rather outdated and terribly old-fashioned for this day and age, but I still like it.  You may remember it from the movie, My Best Friend's Wedding, but this is the original artist!

Wishin' and Hopin' 

Jill, at Jillsy Girl is the host of One Word Wednesday.  Every week, she gives us a word to blog.  We can write a story, post a picture, a poem, a song.  Whatever we want!  Check her out!!  You can also see what everyone else is blogging about too.

Random Tuesday Thoughts

I saw this video and just had to share!  Jeff Dunham is so funny!





My daughter saw this tattoo and has decided she's going to get it. This is my favorite Van Gogh painting.  I'm kinda hoping she'll wait until after her sister's wedding because she'll be wearing a strapless dress. 

My favorite movie of all time is The Quiet Man with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.  Here's the trailer for you to watch, if you want.  I'll tell you a secret. I'll probably watch any John Wayne flick.  





Keely  is the host for Random Tuesday Thoughts.  Go check her out at The Un Mom for lots more fun Randomness!! 

Monday's Music Moves Me: Christmas Carols

Amanda at Bloggin’ with Amanda hosts Musical Monday – What Move’s You?. You can get the instructions by clicking here.

Lorie at The Shrewbridges of Celebration, FL told me about Monday's Music Moves Me, so here's another cool music blog meme to do!


We continue our Christmas theme on Monday's Music Moves Me.   When my daughter, Gina was in high school, she sang a solo every Christmas Eve at Mass.  She found this song, Emmanuel by Amy Grant and I fell in love with it immediately.  Unfortunately she never had the chance to sing it in church, but it has remained a favorite of mine for over 10 years.  I hope you like this one too.  It could be one you've never heard before!






Emmanuel, Emmanuel.
Wonderful, Counselor!
Lord of life, Lord of all;
He's the Prince of Peace,
Mighty God, Holy One!
Emmanuel, Emmanuel.


Emmanuel, Emmanuel.
Wonderful, Counselor!
Lord of life, Lord of all;
He's the Prince of Peace,
Mighty God, Holy One!
Emmanuel, Emmanuel.


Emmanuel, Emmanuel.
Wonderful, Counselor!
Lord of life, Lord of all;
He's the Prince of Peace,
Mighty God, Holy One!
Emmanuel, Emmanuel.
Emmanuel, (Emmanuel, Emmanuel), Emmanuel.


Emmanuel, (Emmanuel, Emmanuel), Emmanuel.
Wonderful, Counselor!
Lord of life, Lord of all;
He's the Prince of Peace,
Mighty God, Holy One!
Emmanuel, Emmanuel, Emmanuel, Emmanuel....
(Emmanuel, Emmanuel, Emmanuel, Emmanuel.

Family Christmas Party

Yesterday we had our family Christmas Party.  It isn't often that all of my brothers and sisters can get together at the same time.  We are somewhat scattered about the country.  I have family in  Pennsylvania (where we were all born and raised), New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, Indiana, Texas, North Carolina and Peru..  At some times over the years, we have had family living in Germany, Okinawa, Korea, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Panama, El Salvador, Peru, Colombia.  For now, only my sister's husband commutes back and forth to Peru for his job.


All of my brothers and sisters were able to attend.  However, some of the next generation, and even the third generation could not.  As it was, there were 33 of the 49 family members were there.  Some had to work, some live too far away.  We missed them, but we sure had a good time!


And oh boy!  Was there a lot of food!!  We opted to do just appetizers, snack foods and yummy desserts, rather than a meal.  It was a great idea!  I wish I had taken pictures of the food, but it was difficult.  Everyone would dig in as soon as a new platter was placed on the table!


I did take a few pictures... well, my favorite future son-in-law did!

Here are the eight of us!  I'm the only gal standing.

Here are some of the cousins with their significant others.

My daughter and her fiance' are on the left.  

My other 2 kids had school and/or work.

John and me!

We also have a barbecue at Peggy's in the summer too!  

Six Word Saturday

Family Christmas Party at Peggy's house!

Today is our annual Family Christmas Party.  We always have it at my sister's house, since she has the most room and we have a BIG family!  If everyone showed up, there would be 49 of us there!  This is just my siblings, their spouses, kids and, in some cases, grandkids!  As it is, I think there will be about 10 people missing.  However, my 4 brothers and 3 sisters are all supposed to be in attendance!  It's our kids who are busy getting lives and are unable to attend.  They will be missed, but we'll still have a great time! 


Want to try your own Six Word Saturday? Go see Cate at Show My Face and link up!