“When all the birds had fled,
That Mighty Gitchi Manitou
Sent Angel choirs instead.
Before their light the stars grew dim,”
Just let Piper Dog out and was struck by the eerie light.
Just past a full moon; moonlight bouncing off the snow; cloud cover that reflects light back down; city lights on, being reflected off the clouds;
And it’s a bright, blue-lit Christmas Eve!
"And wandering hunters heard the hymn,
‘Jesus your King is born,
In excelsis gloria!’ "
One of my favorite hymns. Can hardly remember the last time we sang it in church, though. Merry Christmas!
And to you!
It’s a fairly common Christmas hymn in Anglican churches up here. It’s Canada’s oldest Christmas carol, from the 17th century. (Although the English version is late Victorian, and departs significantly from the original Wyandot / Huron version.)
You seem especially happy. Good for you. Spread the love, I always say. Have a good holiday.
Thanks! And to you!
Clan Piper is healthy and looking forward to a break.
I’ve got Christmas and Boxing Day off, so no work until Thursday.
Piper Cub wants to go see “Ralph Wrecks the Internet” on Boxing Day.
I’m going to go see if I can stream the carol service from King’s College, Cambridge, onto our TV.
And we’re not travelling, so we won’t be killing a deer tonight, unlike a Christmas past!
It’s all good.
I love winter nights with snow! I love how it’s not dark, the way the snow picks up and reflects the light. Moonlight sparkling? Magical!
I remember singing that song in elementary school back in the '70s. I’ve always loved it.
I sang in church choir for years, and I don’t recall singing it at church. Doesn’t mean it can’t be sung at church, but our choir never did it.
I don’t think I’ve sung the Huron Carol since I was in elementary school. I always liked singing it.
I liked the Huron Carol as a kid, but now it just seems a bit awkward to me: “Your race/culture couldn’t possibly understand the full story behind Christmas, so let me white-splain it to you with a dumbed down version”.
It is a concept that’s kind of difficult to wrap your head around… 
Are you saying (for instance) that it’s too complicated to explain the concept of a cloth blanket to primitive people, so they were forced to use the term “rabbit skin” instead?
No, I was thinking more of things like “anunciation” and “virgin birth.”
I would assume their knowledge of cloth would depend more on whether or not they were into weaving.