Merry Christmas To The Blogosphere (OPEN THREAD)

'My Christmas Tree', photograph taken at my home on December 23rd 2005

 

There is much for me to do today, as my family celebrates Christmas eve, and so there will be very light  blogging this weekend. However please feel free to drop in and post comments any time, I shall be here to welcome you whatever time you pop by and to discuss whatever pleases you.

I wish you all, my wonderful faithful readers, and all the Bloggers in the Blogosphere, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Hannukah.

To those of you that do not celebrate, I simply wish you all a very Merry and Joyous Christmas.

With all my love and the biggest and warmest Christmas hug,

God Bless You All, and keep you safe,

Alexandra,
The Author of the Politically Incorrect Blog 'All Things Beautiful'

As promised, I am sharing with you, the breathtaking Bach-Gounod's 'Ave Maria' performed by Leontyne Price, which I am listening to right now:

The President's Christmas Address

Related links from my blog: The Power And Privilege Of Prayer  Theology Matters  Is The Holy Trinity A Doctrine Of Monotheism

Sign a Christmas card to our troops @ Ed Morrissey's Captain's Quarters, Hugh Hewitt gives us a late Christmas present, and Mary Katherine Ham does some interesting post Christmas catching up, Michelle Malkin has a Christmas round up,  our darling Anchoress is reading from the scriptures, Siggy has a wonderful and extremely profound 'mystery of life' post, California Conservative, Joe @ The Heretik reminds us of a Blue Christmas,  La Shawn Barber, David @ Third World County here and here with some lovely Christmas music,  Bill @ Daily Pundit is cooking, Beth has a great Christmas card for the servicemen, The Right Nation, The Real Ugly American reminds us of our soldiers, Kevin @ Wizbang has the cutest photo of his boys 'The Three Musketeers', Jeff H. @ Think Sink has a soldier's tale, George @ Alamo Nation, The Glittering Eye has great Christmas links, Basil's Blog, Adam's Blog has an extensive Christmas round-up, Jay @ Stop the ACLU  Marcus @ Blogger Beer has Week XVI NFL Predictions Riehl World View Neo-neocon has a delicious Lebkuchen recipe  

Comments

[Jeff H]

Alexandra, I hope you had truly blessed Christmas day!!! Here's wishing you and yours an even more blessed New Year.

[Marcus Aurelius]

Erisac,

I read Philippine Commentary too! I hope to be able to visit with Rizalist soon!

Cool.

Merry Christmas to all!

[Marcus Aurelius]

Being a fan of classical music my perforamnce of the Messiah spins a lot at this time of the year. Every year I concentrate on a another track of the performance (usually from the first disc of the three as this is the part that focuses on Christmas, the famous Alleluia chorus celebrates the Resurection, not the birth) and this year is the "For Unto Us a Child is Born":
Lyrics from Isaiah 9: 6
For unto Us a Child is born
Unto Us a Son is given
And the government shall be upon His shoulder
And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor
The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

[Edd]

The following is a small-recycled part of a post I made on December 1, 2004…

Today is most appropriate for all of us to hear the words of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ again:

However, let us not forget the real reason we celebrate Christmas the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our Lord who came among us as a man taught us the “lowliness of mind and unselfishness of spirit” (Author unknown) not only with words but also by action.

“Before the Last Supper Jesus washed and dried the feet of all his disciples even to include the one who would later betray him. Jesus then asked his disciples, ‘Do you understand the meaning of what I have done to you?’”

“You call me your Teacher and your Lord, and you are right, for I am both Teacher and Lord. Well, if I, who am your Teacher and your Lord, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet. I have set you an example that you should do what I have done to you. I tell you truly, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sends him. If you know all this, you are happy if you do them.”

-John 13: 1-20

The next time you see that small red kettle and bell-ringer let us all remember Christ’s so humbling action and place a donation inside. Those pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and more may help wash the feet of one person in so much need physically and spiritually.

[David]

Alexandra,

Best wishes for a blessed Christmas.

Christmas "card" here:

http://thirdworldcounty.blogspot.com/2005/12/gift_24.html

:-)

[Alexandra]

CzekMark, Erisac, Joe (Heretik), and Huan,
How wonderful of you all to pop by, have a blessed Christmas!

[Huan]

Have a beautiful Christmas all.

[The Heretik]

A beautfiul tree. Glad tidings all around.

[Erisac]

What a beautiful site!

I love your Christmas tree for its Victorian feel.

I was bloghopping this Christmas morning and taking clues from Rizalist's The Philippine Commentary links wherein I saw your site listed.

Wishing you a lovely and divine Christmas!

I will come by an visit often from now on.

Eric aka senor enrique

PS - Yes, that is a beautiful rendition of Ave Maria by Ms. Price.

Do you like the French film, Diva?

[czekmark`]

What no nativity scene on Christ's birthday? Never mind. Merry Christmas!!

[Darrell]

Thank you for going through so much trouble for me, and making do even though you didn't have your camera available! 100 dpi is still better than my imagination, in this case! I should have known they were roses(I went back-and-forth for several minutes there), but my eyes and 100 dpi led me astray! I should learn to trust my first instincts... I can hear "Ave Maria" completing the mood even without the audio file. Now all I need is the scent of pine and apple wood drifting across the room. Thank you once again for your kindness! A prayer goes out for you for continued success and blessed health and happiness.

[Alexandra]

Joseph, t

Thank you for sharing that with us. My personal all time favorite is Bach-Gounod's Ave Maria, performed by Leontyne Price. She sings like an angel and the melody always has me in floods of tears, even when I just think about it. It is absolutely breathtaking. I shall post the audio in the main text shortly.

Jeff,

Yes, and in fact the lights that look like grossly oversized bulbs are tiny little lights scattered all over, much prettier in real life. This looks so kitch! As you can see, I had the worse camera avaialble yesterday, my one is still with a friend of mine.

Darrell,

Well the flowers are roses and their actual colour is an antique dark burned dusty pink. I always put them on my tree, and you are quite right it is a special Birthday bouquet to the Lord. It also keeps the freshness of the whole tree idea, as I sometimes think some of them can look a little stale.

I am devastaded that I did not have my own camera last night, and you don't even want to know what contraption this was taken with. Dreadfully out of focus, and as the proper cable was not available I could not even improve on the quality. Ghastly sight for sore eyes, and the poorest quality I have ever posted on this Blog, but I did not want to let you down, so I posted it anyway....

I am however happy that I am going to share with you all what I am listening to, to get the real feel of my Christmas! Nothing better than Bach-Gounod's breathtaking Ave Maria, performed by Leontyne Price. I am rendering it now, so it should be in the main text soon, as an audio.

Rev. Paul,

How nice of you to pop by, Merry Christmas to you and your family.

[Paul T. McCain]

Greetings and a Happy Christmas to All!

Please let me offer a powerfully beautiful hymn by the greatest of all Lutheran hymn writers, Paul Gerhardt.

http://cyberbrethren.typepad.com/cyberbrethren/2005/12/_all_my_heart_t.html

[Darrell]

Thank you, Alexandra, for sharing a little bit of yourself with us today! I see that you turned your tree into a birthday bouquet of pink carnations to the Lord--something I've never seen...But I expect no less from you! I can just imagine your other trees throughout the years and how unique they must have been!

How lucky I am to have found you this year, through the Anchoress! Christmas came early for me this year... I wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas filled with peace, love, and fulfillment of all your wishes!

P.S. Thanks for the 'hug'...It's just what I needed! Thank you for all you do!

[weekenderman]

Wow, the lyrics you just quoted are full of theological incorrectness, Joseph. But I suppose in the spirit of th season I won't address those things today (Jesus was a god-man, not a boy-child; we aren't saved by Christmas day, but rather though Crucifiction and Resurrection days) I'll simply wish you a Merry Christmas as well.

And is there actually a tree behind all your beautiful ornaments, Alexandra? :)

[Joseph Marshall]

The memories of Christmas Past that linger the longest for me are those of music. I will share with you the first verse and chorus of the carol that still moves my heart the deepest. It is the gospel carol "Mary's Boy Child" by Jester Hairston:

Long time ago in Bethlehem
So the Holy Bible say
Mary's boy child, Jesus Christ
Was born on Christmas day

Hark, now hear the angels sing
A new King born today
And man will live for evermore
Because of Christmas day
Trumpets sound and angels sing
Listen what they say
That Man will live for evermore
Because of Christmas day

I generally use the rule of thumb that the older the carol, the better the music, and the pop Christmas carols do little for me. But this one, which Harry Belefonte took to the top of the charts in 1957, in a stunning a capella version, is a sterling exception.

Is is also on his album, To Wish You a Merry Christmas, which I think is the most beautiful Christmas album I have ever heard. I don't think it's very well known now--despite keeping my eyes open a long time, I only saw a CD reissue of it about 2 years ago.

Does anybody have other favorites they wish to share?

Merry Christmas, Alexandra