It would appear to be my last blog post of 2015. At the start of the year, I set myself the challenge of writing one article each week. I almost achieved this apart from a few weeks where I was either too lazy or perhaps lacked the inspiration to come up with something vaguely interesting. Once again I have missed my own self inflicted ‘deadline’ of Monday morning – well it seemed a sensible thing at the time; write something every Monday morning before getting on with the days work. I think that lasted until about mid January.
So here we are in that strange period between Christmas and New Year. I don’t know about you, but I’ve always wondered what one is supposed to do with these few days. I always consider that Christmas is over by the time we reach Boxing Day. Yes ok I realise there are 12 days of Christmas. For a start, there’s all those damned birds to be delivered, along with the 5 gold rings. Of course, those further up the candle would argue that Christmas ends at some point in early February – the second to be precise. Clearly this is a ridiculous notion. It’s hard enough getting my choirs to remember what bird was delivered on which day based on just 12 days of Christmas. You would need a degree in Ornithology to come up with enough birds to cover 40 days of Christmas, not to mention a very patient audience!
I think one of the reasons why I tend to be almost ‘lost’ in these few days between Christmas and New Year is that for me, Christmas is in fact all about Advent. The term Advent is a version of the latin word meaning ‘coming’ and refers to the time of waiting and preparing for the birth of Jesus Christ. Of course, most of my readers will know by now that I don’t subscribe to all this religious nonsense – many people do of course, and that’s absolutely fine – just not my thing! Nevertheless, I still consider Advent to be a much better,and indeed more useful season, by comparison to Christmas. This is because it is during the season of Advent (essentially the four weeks leading up to Christmas day) that all my choirs get to sing Christmas Carols. And for me, ‘Christmas’ is all about Choirs singing carols and festive songs. Once the last choir has sung, it is then time to play the organ at Midnight Mass. Yes I know, how curious is that – a non religious person who thinks one of the best moments of the year is Midnight Mass – it’s ok, I’m just weird!
So there you have it. I seem to have concluded that Christmas is in fact mostly about Advent and the least said about February 2nd the better! If there actually is anyone out there reading the drivel that I write, I would like to thank you for allowing me to share a few of my thoughts & observations with you during the course of the year. I trust you all had a splendid Christmas and wish everyone a very Happy New Year.
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Jules Addison is Musical Director for The BlueBelles, The Pewsey Belles, Cirencester Male Voice Choir, Blue Notes & Great Western Harmony.