O Holy Night

Kiri Te Kanawa At Christmas

When a Child is Born

Te Harinui

Christmas Truce – Joyeux Noel

Children tell the Christmas story

If I could give . . .

If you had the power to give the people you love anything at all for Christmas, what would you choose?

Great wealth and the choices it enables would be very tempting.

But if I could give absolutely anything, I hope I would have the wisdom to look beyond material presents to choose the gifts that money can’t buy, and which need neither bright wrappings nor fancy ribbons to make them special.

The first gift I’d give would be the strength and courage which enables us to find a silver lining in the darkest of clouds, to regard the glass as half-full rather than half-empty, to believe that the bad times will pass and that the good will get better.

With this would go the Pollyanna factor – the propensity to look towards a bright morning in the middle of the darkest night, to seek the first glimmerings of a rainbow while the storm is still raging, to spot the gold where others might see only dross and to find something positive not just in spire of but also because of the negatives.

This would be my first gift – that of hope.

Then would come the gift of lightness of spirit that reflects gladness and delight, a wholehearted pleasure in life and in living.

People with this gift know laughter is the only cure for grief.

They have an inner glow and they also have a depth of vision which enables them to uncover the extraordinary no matter how deeply it is buried under the ordinary,

The appreciate the greatness in small things and celebrate it.

This is what give a light in the eye and a song in the heart – it is the gift of joy.

The third gift would have to start with the tools people require to get on with themselves and each other; the ability to listen carefully, think critically and speak clearly – and in that order.

These are the basic communication skills which enable us to understand other people’s thoughts and feelings, and express our own.

Add to those tolerance, flexibility, an openness to other points of view, as well as the willingness to seek consensus when differences occur and to accept compromise when consensus is impossible.

If we mastered these as individuals it would flow on to better relationships in and between families, communities and countries.

It is the gift of peace.

The fourth gift is the biggest of all.

To work properly and be felt deeply it needs hope, joy and peace but is much greater than all of these.

It requires selflessness and sacrifice, humility and humour; the willingness to put others first, to laugh with them and at yourself.

Paradoxically, the more you seek it the less likely you are to find it and those who have the most of it are the ones who give the most to others.

It is the most powerful emotion of all, the one that motivates parents and inspires poets.

It is love.

Yes, these are the four things I would leave under the Christmas tree for my nearest and dearest if it was in my power to give them absolutely anything at all – hope, joy, peace and love.

There is a familiar ring to that and I have a funny feeling I am not the first to have thought of giving these gifts.

O Holy Night – O Helga Natt

Away In A Manger

Mary’s Boy Child,

Be merry in merino

In time for the holidays, Shaun is back with festive fun featuring in #theflightbeforechristmas, & a separate short film with a sustainable message ‘Be Merry in Merino’. Make all your flock happy with holiday gifts made from Wool – The Planet-Friendly Fibre! #wool pic.twitter.com/bnmXAWK3nI

— Campaign for Wool (@Campaignforwool) December 18, 2021

Little Drummer Boy

Silent Night

Deck the Halls

Adeste Fidelis

Last year James left a comment on a carol I posted with the following recommendations:

. . .May I suggest for next year that Pavarotti is still the stand out version of “Adeste Fidelis” and that the best tenor’s version of Oh Holy Night is still Jussi Bjorling. Of all the Christmas songs “Deck the Halls” is best sung by Joan Sutherland. Most carols require simplicity and humility so you may be surprised at how well Rod Stewart sings Silent Night and Bob Seger and his Silver Bullet Band take The Little Drummer Boy really well. Mary’s Boy Child I just like Boney M, but as a rule the soundest singer for any and all would be Anne Murray from Canada. . . 

For the next week, I will follow his advice with a carol each day.

Farmer Christmas

Meet Farmer Christmas and his magic helpers making the gifts on your table just as magical as the ones under the tree. #MakeGoodThingsHappen pic.twitter.com/N701G5mBdg

— Morrisons (@Morrisons) November 14, 2021

A magical Delivery

Now’s the day . .

This quote from Robert Burns is apposite both because it’s St Andrew’s Day and because the National Party will have a new leader today.

Now’s the day and now’s the hour. – Robert Burns

Mint sauce and lamb, Kiwi as

Celebrating National Lamb Day:

Beef and Lamb New Zealand Ambassador Norka Mella Munoz, shares the story of when she first learned about New Zealand – and using mint sauce on lamb. When ‘The Dunedin’ docked into London on 24 May 1882 the New Zealand food industry was born. Fast forward to today and our food is in hot demand all around the world. We are known, and loved, for our meat, dairy, fruit, honey, fish, veges – you name it, we probably produce the world’s best. National Lamb Day, held in New Zealand on the 24th of May, is a celebration of the beginning of what is now a multi-billion dollar industry. New Zealand farmers produce some of the best lamb and the rest of the world just can’t get enough.

National Lamb Day

On  National Lamb Day,  or any other, this way of cooking is hard to beat.

It’s the way they do it in Argentina and was cooked for us by Pablo Tacchini, owner and chef of Cucina in Oamaru.