"The World In Solemn Stillness Lay/To Hear The Angels Sing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                              The Holidays are closing in on us, girls!  We just heard Sister Camille's inspirational message about Christmas.  It seems a billboard in Times Square, sponsored by an atheist organization, asked the question "Who Needs Christ In Christmas?"  Sister C set things straight; reminding us this is a time for everyone to celebrate joy and love for one another and our fellow man, no matter what persuasion we may be.  She points out her friends include agnostics and atheists!!!!!!  Well done, Sister!  You go, girl!!!!!!!!

                            No matter how you slice it, darlings, Christmas deals with the birth of Jesus.  Even if you think of a creche as a nice Holiday scene, it IS a part of the Holiday!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                              As a Catholic, whose body, naturally, is pain wracked from stone floors, I am not about to argue here--Christmas, and the Baby Jesus go hand in hand!

                               Which is why, as this singular Blessed Event draws near, I have included one of the most gorgeous, but less heard than others, carols surrounding it--"It Came Upon The Midnight Clear."

                                Sometimes "the" is changed to "a," though I prefer the former. This was a poem, written in 1849, by Edmund Sears, pastor of the Unitarian Church, in Wayland, Massachusetts.  The following year, a composer named Richard Storrs Willis, who had trained under Felix Mendelssohn, darlings, wrote a melody called "Carol," and set Sears' lyrics to it!  And voila, a classic was born!!!!!!!!!!!

                                 Of course, this carol has been covered by just about anyone who sings, including yours truly!  But, considering the last line of the first verse, I prefer choral renderings, because, then, it really is like the angels singing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                   Peace On Earth, dolls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!