12 songs of Christmas - song 12

Now I know there is still one more night until Christmas, but as tomorrow is Christmas Eve itself I may end up too busy to post anything - so this is why it is timed for today to be song 12.

Well.. that and I miscounted... :-)

So song 12 is my favourite Christmas Carol.

O Holy Night


Now this song cannot be done as rock, pop, acid or folk. Orchestras or simple piano accompaniment please.

Also, sorry, but it can only be done by a guy. Yes yes I'm sure there are some great woman who can sing it really nice, very pleasant and sweet.... but uh-uh nah - it has to be a guy putting everything into the song.

And as such here is Michael Crawford and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here came the wise men from Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,
In all our trials born to be our friend!

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His Name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy Name!

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

See what I mean?

12 songs of Christmas - song 11

One Small Child - David Meece

This is my favourite Christmas song (Christmas carols are a different thing...).

David wrote this when he was 14 - I know this because when I told him I loved the song after a concert he told me. OK all you 14 year olds - listen up - can you do better?! I know I can and I'm (slightly) older than 14.

I could not find an original or decent cover of this on youtube so I rushed this video together.

One small child in a land of a thousand.
One small dream of a savior tonight.
One small hand reaching out to the starlight.
One small savior of life. Ooh.

One king bringing his gold and riches.
One king ruling and army of might.
One king kneeling with incense and candlelight.
One king bringing us life. Ooh.

(chorus)
See Him lying, a cradle beneath Him.
See Him smiling in the stall.
See His mother praising the Father.
See His tiny eyelids fall.
See the shepherds kneeling before Him.
See the kings on bended knee.
See the mother praising the Father.
See the blessed infant sleep.

One small child in a land of a thousand.
One small dream of a savior tonight.
One small hand reaching out to the starlight.
One small savior of life.

I get chills, and my heart gets pumping when I hear this song. I love the thought that the hand that cast the stars into space is here a tiny wee hand reaching out to the starlight.

The many kings, Herod with his army of might, the wise men giving gifts but all in all the center of the event is this King of Kings.

Excuse me while I go listen to this a few more times...


By the way I'd have to say that I hate Rebecca St James version.

12 Songs of Christmas - Song 10

Song 10 - Holy Emmanuel by Terry Scott Taylor.

A pleasant sound enveloped me as I entered church tonight. It was our carol service and I was helping get things ready for it and was a little flustered - this song met me as i entered the sanctuary.

I was going to post another song but decided upon this one. Terry Taylor is the lead singer/song writer of Daniel Amos and if you have known me for any length of time then you know they are my favourite band and the music of Terry's is my number one. During dark times in my life when I've been about to give up on my faith (and life) it has been his music which has kept me going on. He's not the best singer, but what he does do impresses me. This is a quieter song and i think his rock voice is better but I do like the honesty of his voice here. His lyrics I do put up amongst the best out there though.

Wisemen still looking for Him
Children still come and adore Him
We will bow down before Him
The Savior is born in Bethlehem

We sing Holy, Holy, Holy
Noel, Noel
Singing Holy, Holy
God Emmanuel

Prophets foretold the story
Angels proclaim His glory
Brightest Star of Morning
The Savior is born in Bethlehem

The lyrics speak for themselves here - as long as you remember what Emmanuel means - God with Us.

12 Songs of Christmas - Song 9

Christmas at Dennys - by Randy Stonehill.

I could not find on youtube a video that anyone had done of the original Randy song, here is a cover that someone sung - and it's not too bad.

They got Christmas Muzak®
Piped in through the ceiling
And the refills of coffee
Are always for free
And the waitress on graveyard
And the surly night manager
Are wishing that all of us losers would leave

There’s a star on the sign
At the Texaco® Station
Like the star long ago
On that midnight clear
As I look all around
At these cold, empty faces
I doubt that you'd find many wise men here

And I'm dreaming about
A silent night - Holy Night
When things were alright
And I'm dreaming about
How my life could have been
If only, if only, if only
But somewhere down the road
I gave up that fight
Merry Christmas
It's Christmas at Denny's tonight

Once I had a home
And a wife and a daughter
Had a company job
Earning middle-class pay
Then Lisa got killed
By a car near the schoolyard
And my wife started drinking
Just to get through each day
I will never forget
That little red wagon
Turning to rust
All alone in the rain
One morning I flagged down
A truck on the highway
I just couldn't bear
To go back there again

And I'm dreaming about
A silent night - Holy night
When things were alright
And I'm dreaming about
How my life could have been
If only, if only, if only
Well, it's not just the blind man
Who loses his sight
Merry Christmas
It's Christmas at Denny's tonight

They say
Life's made of cruel circumstance
Fate plays the tune and we dance
Dance til we drop
In the dust and we're gone
And the world just goes on

The cop at the counter
He's the guardian angel
He watches these orphans
Through dark mirrored shades
And the register rings
Like a bell sadly tolling
For the fools we've become
And the price that we paid
Oh when I was a boy
I believed in Christmas
Miracle season
To make a new start
I don't need no miracle
Sweet baby Jesus
Just help me find
Some kind of hope in my heart

And I'm dreaming about
A silent night - Holy night
When things were alright
And I'm dreaming about
How my life could have been
If only, if only, if only
But I'll still be here
At the morning's first light
Merry Christmas
It's Christmas at Denny's tonight
Merry Christmas
It's Christmas at Denny's tonight

A bit of a somber song in this time of joy. It is a reminder though that Jesus whose birth in one way or another we are remembering informed (nay commanded) us to love one another.

People from their own mistakes or the mistakes of others are not having a joyous time. In what way can you help some of these people this Christmas?

12 songs of Christmas - song 8

Song 8 is of course The 8 polish foods of Christmas. As heard on the Vegetales CD (not made into a video just a CD)A Very Veggie Christmas.

The plot of the Cd is basically the Veggies are having as party and singing songs while waiting for the polish caterer to turn up that Larry the cucumber had organised.

I found a video on youtube that was snippets from a cartoon, it didn't appeal to me so I (with the help of Jared my son) put this together.

Bob: So, what did you bring us?

Oscar: What I bring you? I tell you what I bring you.
The first Polish Christmas dish I bring to the party,
A boiled potato topped with dillweed.
The second Polish Christmas dish I bring to the party,
Two steamed pierogies...

Jimmy: What's a pierogi?

Oscar: It's a dough, wrapped around meat.

Jimmy: Oh...

All: And a boiled potato topped with dillweed.

Oscar: The third Polish Christmas dish I bring to the party,
Three simmered gwumpkies...

Larry: What's a gwumpkey?

Oscar: It's a cabbage wrapped around meat.

Larry: Oh..

Jimmy: Two steamed pierogies.

All: And a boiled potato topped with dillweed.

Oscar: The fourth Polish Christmas dish I bring to the party
Four baked paprikas...

Archibald: Now, what is a paprika?

Oscar: It's a bell pepper stuffed with meat.

Archibald: I see.

Larry: Three Simmered gwumpkies,

Jimmy: Two steamed pierogis,

All: And a boiled potato topped with dillweed.

Oscar: The fifth Polish Christmas dish I bring to the party,
Five smoked kielbasas!

Pa: What's a kielbasa?

Oscar: It's pretty much just meat.

Pa: Oh.

Archibald: Four baked paprikas,

Larry: Three simmered gwumpkies,

Jimmy: Two steamed pierogis,

All: And a boiled potato topped with dillweed.

Oscar: The sixth Polish Cristmas dish I bring to the party,
Six fried hoosecheekies.

Bob: Let me guess, something in the meat family?

Oscar: Actually, it's a delightful pastry with a thin flaky crust.

All: Ohhhhh!

Pa: Five smoked kielbasas!

Archibald: Four baked paprikas,

Larry: Three simmered gwumpkies,

Jimmy: Two steamed pierogis,

All: And a boiled potato topped
with dill weed.

Bob: Wow Oscar, I'm gettin' kinda full, I think that's about..

Oscar: The seventh Polish Christmas dish I bring to the party,
Seven pitted prunes...

Jr: I don't like prunes!

Oscar: With this food, you'll need 'em son.

Archie: Oh, is that right!

Pa: Uh huh!

Bob: Six fried hoosecheekies,

Pa: Five smoked kielbasas!

Archibald: Four baked paprikas,

Larry: Three simmered gwumpkies,

Jimmy: Two steamed pierogis,

All: And a boiled potato topped
with dill weed.

Pa; I'm gunna bust! I couldn't eat another bi...

Oscar: The eighth Polish Christmas dish I bring to the party,
Eight poppy seed cakes,

Larry: Poppies, poppies, poppies...

Archibald: I'm feeling rather sleepy. There's no place like home.

Jr: Seven pitted prunes,

Bob: Six fried hooscheekies,

Pa: Five smoked kielbasas!

Arcibald: Four baked paprikas,

Larry: Three simmered gwumpkis,

Jimmy: Two steamed pierogis,

All: And a boiled potato topped with dillweed!

12 songs of Christmas - song 7 - repost

For some reason when I posts my blog with 2 youtube videos to by Facebook profile it only posts the second one.

So here is a repost of the song missing from song seven. It is the actual Phil Keaggy song I wanted to post.

12 songs of Christmas - song 2 - repost

For some reason when I posts my blog with 2 youtube videos to by Facebook profile it only posts the second one.

So here is a repost of the song missing from song two. It is the Julie Miller version of Manger Throne.

12 songs of Christmas - song 7

God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen - by Phil Keaggy

I'm not going to worry about the lyrics just the youtube for this one. You'll see why.

Phil Keaggy is the insanely talented guitar player. If you have not heard of him before, then pop around to my place and I'll put on a DVD of a concert he and Randy Stonehill did. All this talent and it is with one finger missing on his strumming hand.

Here is the song...




The irony of choosing God Rest ye merry Gentlemen, is that I choose it while driving to work today. I'm now typing this after exercising for 45 minutes and need a rest (and shower but I'm not going to mention that... oops)

But I choose this song really because I like what Phil has done. It is an instrumaental of what I was listening to this morning but it shows what talent the guy has got.


Here is a bit more of Phil...



It's a slower song of his - you should see the concert DVD when he really cranks things up a notch.

12 songs of Christmas - song 6

Michael W. Smith sing we now of Christmas - Emmanuel

To all those who know me mainly from my alt-rock leanings - yes I do like Michael W. Smith - in fact I have nearly all of his CD's.

So given that he has 3 CD's of Christmas music I thought it time I played at least one of them.

Sing we now of Christmas
Sing we all Noel
Of the Lord and Savior
We the tidings tell
Sing we Noel
For Christ our Lord is born
Sing we Noel
For Christ our Lord is born
Angels from on high
May shepherds come and see
He's born in Bethlehem
A blessed family
Glory to God
For Christ our King is born
Glory to God
For Christ our King is born
Sing we now of Christmas
Sing we all Noel
Sing we now of Christmas
Sing we all Noel
Sing we all Noel

Emmanuel, Emmanuel
Emmanuel, Emmanuel
Wonderful Counselor
Lord of Life, Lord of All
He is the Prince of Peace,
Mighty God, Holy One
Emmanuel, Emmanuel

Emmanuel means God with Us. Not wise man with us, or great teacher with us, but God with us. This song hearkens back to one my first first posts where I (along with some help from Bono) talked about how Jesus is God. If He were anything less then all those who follow Him and His teaches are to be pitied above all people. Lives and eternities wasted.

His (wise) teachings were not understood by the large majority of the people who listened, in fact if you read the Gospels we see the disciples who did follow him had a hard time too.

His great moral teachings included don't worry about the poor, they will always be around but I'm here you should be concerned about me.

His profound statements include that if you have seen him you have seen the Father and that the way to heaven is to believe in him and him alone.

If He was not God with Us my life is a waste of Time. But the more I look the more I see He is the one. He makes promises and He has the power to back them up, He has the history to show he keeps them.

6 days to Christmas - sing we now of Christmas, of the Lord and saviour, Emmanuel, mighty God and holy one.

12 songs of Christmas - song 5

Winter Wonderland by Steve Taylor.

For the geographically literate among you, you will know that New Zealand is in the southern hemisphere, which means that it is currently summer.

This makes Christmas odd. You see all the nice big American inspired Christmas songs seem to mention snow. (I'm not even going to mention the plethera of winter scene Christmas Cards)

Today it is a rather humid day and quiet warm with it. Not a snowflake in sight.

There are some specific NZ Christmas songs such as Down Under Santa Got a Sun Tan, Te ara nui and We want to wish you a Maori Christmas. But as far as great memorable anthems go they don't just cut it.

So here we are wearing shorts and t-shirts, putting zinc cream on our nose, tossing another sausage on the BBQ and singing "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas"

Just odd.

So in light of that todays song is Winter Wonderland.

Not just any version of Winter Wonderland though - it is Steve Taylors matiachi version.

No need to post the lyrics today.

Enjoy.