Music for the Season

It's a thought to consider, keeping different music for different phases of the Christmas season; it gives us something new to look forward to and keeps things fresh! This album, And Winter Came (2008) by Enya has our favorite version of O Come, O Come Emmanuel for Advent, but is full also of beautiful melodies to carry us into the quiet of the extended season of Christmastide -- when the more raucous (for lack of a better word) Christmas carols seem out of place, and we're all ready for something more peaceful following the busy busy Octave of Christmas. It's good to be reminded that Christmas isn't over; we're still celebrating! Appropriate music in the background helps to keep the season alive when the rest of the world has already put away every thought and reminder of the birth of Jesus. 

Our personal tradition is to eschew Christmas music in general until the second week of Advent, and then slowly ramp up with instrumental music. We enjoy Manheim Steamroller, for instance, and have several CDs of classical Christmas orchestrations. Alternatively, Pandora and like-music-playlist venues have a lot of orchestral Christmas options. Then, the two days or so prior to Christmas, we add some Bing Crosby style retro Christmas albums so we can sing while we bake and wrap presents. These we ramp up and enjoy thoroughly until around the Feast of the Circumcision. Then we're ready to change out our selection again, adding Enya, mixed in with some Gaelic music -- and our own Seminarians' music (linked below). It's a personal thing, what each family likes best, of course, but continuing the Christmas music, even just sporadically, until Candlemas Day (February 2nd), keeps the beauty and importance of Christmastide alive in our minds at the same time that the Church is still celebrating it. Think of how it is when a new baby joins the family: the novel sweetness of an infant - the smell of his or her newborn skin, the warmth of their tiny selves tucked up against us, the simple miracle of them! -- lingers far longer than a week after their birth. The Church remembers this and we should, too! 

But, just to share a favorite way to keep Christmas gently alive all the way until Candlemas... We recommend And Winter Came as a good one to download for this time of the Liturgical Year, if you don't already have it; it's all that we've come to expect from Enya, and perfect for the season! Check out the beautiful lyrics of  the tune, Journey of the Angels:

Somewhere in a winter night 

the angels begin their flight 

Dark skies with miles to go 

No footsteps to be lost in snow. 

 They fly to You 

                          Oh, new-born King, 

They fly to You 

                          Oh angels sing.

One is sorrow, 

One is peace, 

One will come 

To give You sleep. 

One is comfort, 

One is grief, 

One will take 

The tears You weep. 

New star in a midnight sky, 

In heaven all the angels fly. 

Soft wings so true 

And all things they 

Will give to You. 

Somewhere in a winter night 

The angels begin their flight. 

Tonight all sing. 

    Oh angels, a new-born King. 

Tonight all sing,

     Oh, angels, A new-born King. 

Aren't the words lovely? We highly recommend this album. If you're an Enya fan, especially, it's a must-have! She's recorded a couple of Christmas EPs, as well, all beautifully done in her signature style, perfectly lovely for the second half of Christmastide. Look for them on your playlist sources. Her Gaelic version of Silent Night is gorgeous!

Our favorite Christmas album, though, bar none, is Sursum Corda, the first recording of our Mater Dei Seminarians (and men's choir). Three of our sons and several "seminarians-and-priests-like-sons," all dear to us, joined voices and talent to produce this recording a few years ago (5 or 6?). Every track is truly inspired with love of God, different than any other Christmas recording (save, of course, the Singing Nuns' many CDs) because the music is truly produced for the glory of God. If you don't already have this one, run right over and order. You won't be disappointed. You can find it here.