Frankthoughts

Oh holy night the stars are brightly shining…this is the night of our dear saviour’s birth! Wishing one and all the peace and joy of Christ this Christmas season! Christmas is the time of giving and sharing, it is the time when our families forget their differences and come together to celebrate. When we decorate our houses, put up christmas trees and spend enormous sums of money on clothes and gifts for ourselves and our loved ones. But very often we forget why we are doing all this…why am I writing about it? Maybe, because I too, almost completely forgot the reason why I celebrate Christmas in the first place! As every year, this year too I went for the midnight service on Christmas eve to my church. I arrived fifteen minutes early, hoping to get a seat. But, to my surprise the church premises was overflowing with people, many of whom I had never seen before, not that I know everyone who comes there. But there were hawkers selling Santa Claus hats and balloons, children sc...

Sometimes, however much you try, you can never get in to the Christmas mood. Even though everywhere you look you can see some semblance of the arrival of the Christmas season. But somehow you just cannot get yourself to feel that way. This is exactly how I was feeling till I decided to proactively do something about it. I decided to listen to my favourite Christmas carols, hymns and songs. So throughout the day (in office on ear phones), I started listening to various versions of Little Drummer Boy, Away in a Manger, Oh Come, All Ye Faithful, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Silent Night etc…Now it seems like I won’t be able to get rid of this amazing feeling! So, what's the difference between a Christmas hymn, carol and a song?  Some experts believe that hymns are carols for adults. On this basis, Once in Royal David's City, and Silent Night, for example, are carols. The Oxford Book of Carols defines carols as "songs with a religious impu...