I know I’m rushing the season

...but I think every day should be Christmas.

I love the poem “In the Bleak Midwinter” by Christina Rossetti (1830 - 1894).

I love the tune called CRANHAM.

I love that CRANHAM was composed by Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934) during the time he lived in Cranham, a village in Gloucestershire, England, in a house now known as Midwinter.

I love that Rossetti’s poem has been set to Holst’s tune.

I love the sound made by the choir and congregation of Gloucester Cathedral (3:29).

I love that even though Israel is a land of warmth and palm trees and that the three wise men or magi or kings or whatever they were are always pictured as riding on camels across arid deserts, Christians in northern climes have managed to project their winter weather patterns into the Christmas story.

I love that Jesus was probably born in March or April, since spring -- the time lambs are usually born -- was the only time of year that shepherds stayed in the fields all night to assist the ewes rather than herding the flocks into the sheepfolds, and that early Christians chose to observe the birth of the Savior in December because they were less likely to be detected while the Roman Empire was celebrating Saturnalia.

If you love any of these things, even though it isn’t even Thanksgiving yet, click anywhere on this post.

What can I say? It’s that time of year again...

A couple of posts back you heard Christina Rossetti’s poem “In the Bleak Midwinter” sung by the Gloucester Cathedral choir. The tune, known as CRANHAM, was written by Gustav Holst in 1906.

A different musical setting of the same text was written more recently by Harold Darke, and in 2008 it was voted the greatest Christmas carol of all time in a poll of choral experts and choirmasters. Here it is:

“In the Bleak Midwinter” (musical setting by Harold Darke), sung by Kings College Choir, Cambridge (4:18)

I think both versions are absolutely beautiful.

Here are some more numbers by the Kings College Choir from their 2008 Christmas concert. If you don’t have 24 minutes, 59 seconds right now to listen to all of them at one sitting, choose a favorite or two and come back later for the rest:

“Once In Royal David’s City” (4:29)

“Sussex Carol” arr. by Philip Ledger (1:55)

“The Holly and the Ivy” arr. H. Walford Davies (2:45)

“Angels From the Realms of Glory” arr. Philip Ledger (2:50)

“What Sweeter Music” John Rutter (4:06)

“The First Nowell” arr. David Willcocks (4:31)

“O Come, All Ye Faithful” arr. by Stephen Cleobury (4:23)

I hope you enjoy the Kings College Choir as much as I always do. But even if nobody listens to them but me, I will still be happy.

One of the main reasons I love December...

...is this song , sung by the choir of Gloucester Cathedral in Gloucester, England.

The main thing to remember about Gloucester is that it is pronounced glawster and that it is in glawstersher and not, as many Americans think, Glaowchester in Glaowchestershyre. The English are strange in other ways too: they pronounce Leicester as lester and Thames as temz, they hold their knife in one hand and their fork in the other throughout their meal, and they smush their peas into their mashed potatoes.

Just about everything a person could want to know about the song (“In the Bleak Midwinter”) is in this article.

Just about everything a person could want to know about Gloucester Cathedral is in this article.

Just about everything a person could want to know about the city of Gloucester, England, is in this article.

If you want to know about anything else, you’re pretty much on your own. Give people a fact and they learn one new thing. Teach people how to find facts themselves and they will never stop learning.