What a wonderful last gathering of 2025 we had! We were a good-sized bunch and we did a good amount of singing with lots of good conversation too. The hour goes by too quickly. We hardly had time to nibble on the cookies and treats I brought. Christmas music is always fun and meaningful and there are so many familiar melodies to sing! I still learn ‘new’ songs every year though, and always have songs on my list that are new to some people. I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas was recorded in 1953, but is new to some. Peter, Paul & Mary recorded Christmas Dinner in 1969. It’s a favourite of mine and Robin’s but one that you might not have heard. It doesn’t get played enough. That's Christmas to Me by Pentatonix is a new favourite of mine. Pentatonix puts a great new spin on old classics too. There’s always a bunch of new versions of old classics. It seems that every big singer has to put out a Christmas album. Often a new version of an old classic becomes...
We continued with our Christmas theme and with Christmas baking. We added a fun Hanukkah song too. I brought a variety of baked and bought cookies, but we sang and chatted quite a bit so we didn't really make a dent in that tin of goodies. It was a lovely hour well-spent. We'll have more Christmas music and more holiday goodies next Thursday! Will we see you there? The first thing we did was watch a YouTube video that I mentioned last time. Here is a link. For King and Country is an Australian-American contemporary Christian band, actually a duo of two brothers. The energy and power of their live version of The Little Drummer Boy is electrifying. I highly recommend watching it. The next thing we did was to listen to and sing along with (as much as possible) the song Happy Hanukkah by Walk Off the Earth, featuring Scott Helman. It's got a fun and uplifting reggae feel, and a catchy chorus. We wondered about the lyrics: "I light up a flame in the name of the ...