Day 4 - Let's end this on an upbeat!

Hello and welcome to the last day of the Purrfectly Giftastic Christmas Blog Hop! It's been great fun, but all good things must come to an end, right? So today, I thought I'd end on a cheery note by talking about Christmas music.

There is a lot of music that is sung especially at this time of year. As a kid, we sang Christmas carols in school. I also sang carols with the Girl Scouts. We would go house to house and sing for the people in each house. Usually afterward, we'd have hot chocolate to warm us up! I don't remember the last time I've seen carolers in any neighborhood. I suppose it's a lost art now, but it was great fun back then.

Also, when I was in fifth and sixth grades, we made visits three or four times a year to Powell Hall, to hear the St. Louis Symphony play. Our symphony is world class and wonderful! We would listen to the music beforehand, so we'd be familiar with it. It was definitely a highlight of those years! Around Christmas time they would have a special concert featuring selections from Handel's great oratorio, The Messiah. We learned that there is a time honored tradition involved with one of the selections, The Halleleujah Chorus, which was begun during the time of King George. When you hear it played live, you stand, as he did, from respect.

Something else we did back in grade school was a breathing exercise by our music teacher - we had to sing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen in one breath! Believe it or not, I can still do it to this day!  lol It's a matter of breath control. It probably doesn't hurt that I played the oboe for six years, too, and that factors into that too, as with any wind instrument.

One of my favorite Christmas songs is We Three Kings (not to be confused with the George Clooney movie by the same name, which I also enjoy). There is something about the words and melody that moves me, the image of the travelers journeying to pay their respects to the newborn king. I also like First Noel, O Little Town of Bethelehem, Joy to the World, O Tannenbaum and so many more.

But my favorite Christmas song of all time is O Holy Night. It doesn't hurt that when I was in 9th grade, I heard it sung by a teacher I had a crush on! It's been dear to my heart ever since, and I think it's the most beautiful Christmas song ever.











Do you have favorite Christmas music? I'd love to hear about it!  Thank you for joining me on this wonderful blog hop! I will be announcing my winners tomorrow, after work!

Until next time, take care!

♥ Julie