The shepherds sing; and shall I silent be?
My God, no hymn for Thee?
My soul’s a shepherd too; a flock it feeds
Of thoughts, and words, and deeds.
The pasture is Thy word: the streams, Thy grace
Enriching all the place.
Shepherd and flock shall sing, and all my powers
Outsing the daylight hours.
Then will we chide the sun for letting night
Take up his place and right:
We sing one common Lord; wherefore he should
Himself the candle hold.
I will go searching, till I find a sun
Shall stay, till we have done;
A willing shiner, that shall shine as gladly,
As frost-nipped suns look sadly.
Then will we sing, and shine all our own day,
And one another pay:
His beams shall cheer my breast, and both so twine,
Till ev’n His beams sing, and my music shine.
Archives
Giving Books: Cybils Middle Grade Fiction Nominees
Mother Reader has a list of 105 Ways to Give a Book, and I think it’s a great list. All book-givers should check it out. I am shamelessly copying her idea, but I’d like to give you some ideas about some stuff you could pair with one of the Cybils books that I’ve read for this year’s judging.
1. Mother Reader herself had this one on her list: Pair Operation YES! with green army men. I just read Operation YES! by Sara Lewis Holmes, and I haven’t managed to review it yet. But it’s a great book about art and drama and soldiers and those who love them. Perfect for anyone who has a friend or loved one in the armed services.
More Cybils books featuring members of the armed forces and their families.
2. Give The Beast of Blackslope (Sherlock Files) by Tracy Barrett (Semicolon review here) with the 221B Baker Street Mystery Game. We have this game, and my kids have enjoyed playing it and trying to figure out the mysteries.
3. Dani Noir by Nova Ben Suma (Semicolon review here) would go great with a DVD of this movie or this one. Or any noir film that you love and want to share with a film fan.
4. Some of the Cybils nominated books just go with other books:
William S. and the Great Escape by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (Semicolon review here) plus The Complete Works of Shakespeare. (Only for a kid who already likes Shakespeare)
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (Semicolon review here) plus A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.
Callie’s Rules by Naomi Zucker (Semicolon review here) plus Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
If the child you’re giving to already loves the second book in one of these pairs, he or she will probably like the first one, too, since the protagonist in each story really likes the second book in the pairing.
5. Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez (Semicolon review here) could be a hit with aspiring astronomers if it were given with an inexpensive telescope. (Last year’s Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass would also go well with the telescope idea.)
6. Extra Credit by Andrew Clements plus a box of stationery, boy-themed or girl themed, or offer to help your gift recipient go online and find his or her own pen pal, just like the kids in the book.
ePals: the Internet’s largest global community of connected classrooms.
Student Letter Exchange.
Kids’ Space Connection.
7. Born to Fly by MIchael Ferrari (Semicolon review here) would be a perfect match with this InAir E-Z Build Model Kit of a P-40 Warhawk, the same WW II plane that’s featured in the book.
8. Give a baseball and maybe a bat with any of the following baseball stories:
Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta. Semicolon review here.
The Girl Who Threw Butterflies by Mick Cochrane. Semicolon review here.
All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg. Semicolon review here.
The Brooklyn Nine by Alan Gratz.
9. Make the Double Decker Chocolate Bars recipe in the back of the book and give a dozen of them along with Hallie Durand’s Dessert First. Semicolon review here.
10. If you know a girl who loves funky socks, either or both of these books would go well with a gift of some special socks.
Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez. Semicolon review here.
Standing for Socks by Elissa Brent Weissman.
11. Give My Life in Pink and Greenby Lisa Greenwald (Semicolon review here) with a gift certificate for a makeover or a make-up session at a local boutique or department store. Or you could just buy some appropriate-for-the-age makeup for your favorite pre-teen to go with this story about growing up and taking responsibility.
12. Eleven Birthdays by Wendy Mass seems to me to be a remake of the movie Groundhog Day. Well, sort of a remake, similar premise. Anyway the movie and the book together would make a good gift for an eleven year old, maybe even one who’s celebrating a birthday at Christmas time. Brown Bear Daughter was born two days before Christmas, and it’s hard to figure out what to get her for her birthday and for Christmas at the same time.
So there you go: ten+ gift ideas from me and one from Mother Reader, and you can check out Mother Reader’s list for 104 more ideas. Give a book to every child on your Christmas list. Books are cool!
Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a book cover or a link here to go to Amazon and buy something, I receive a very small percentage of the purchase price.
One or more of these books is also nominated for a Cybil Award, but the views expressed here are strictly my own.
Christmas at the Orphanage, 1936
Christmas in Washington, D.C., 1862
On December 1, 1862, Abraham Lincoln sent a long message to Congress which was largely routine, but ended with these famous words:
Is it doubted, then, that the plan I propose, if adopted, would shorten the war, and thus lessen its expenditure of money and of blood? Is it doubted that it would restore the national authority and national prosperity, and perpetuate both indefinitely? Is it doubted that we here–Congress and Executive–can secure its adoption? Will not the good people respond to a united, and earnest appeal from us? Can we, can they, by any other means, so certainly, or so speedily, assure these vital objects? We can succeed only by concert. It is not “can any of us imagine better?” but, “can we all do better?” The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise — with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.
Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We — even we here — hold the power, and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free — honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just — a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.
Christmas with Mark Twain, c.1897
Mark Twain was born on November 30, 1835.
“The approach of Christmas brings harrassment and dread to many excellent people. They have to buy a cart-load of presents, and they never know what to buy to hit the various tastes; they put in three weeks of hard and anxious work, and when Christmas morning comes they are so dissatisfied with the result, and so disappointed that they want to sit down and cry. Then they give thanks that Christmas comes but once a year.”
– Following the Equator
“It is my heart-warm and world-embracing Christmas hope and aspiration that all of us, the high, the low, the rich, the poor, the admired, the despised, the loved, the hated, the civilized, the savage (every man and brother of us all throughout the whole earth), may eventually be gathered together in a heaven of everlasting rest and peace and bliss, except the inventor of the telephone.” From Caroline Harnsberger’s Mark Twain at Your Fingertips.
Here’s hoping that your Christmas season celebration turns out to be less stressful and harassing than Mr. Twain’s seemed to be. What would he say about cell phones and email?
Hymn of the Week: The First Noel the Angel Did Say
Lyrics: Unknown, of Cornish origin, 1400’s(?).
Music: Traditional English Melody from W. Sandy’s Christmas Carols, 1833.
Theme: Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!
See, your King comes to you,
righteous and having salvation,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Zechariah 9:9
In the 1956 Baptist Hymnal, the one I grew up with, the section of Christmas carols begins on page 63 with The First Noel. When I was a girl , The First Noel was my favorite Christmas carol. I liked the word “noel” (not “nowell”). I liked the picture of the shepherds and the wise men looking up and following the same Christmas star. I liked the song of praise for God’s creation and his redemption of mankind that made up the final verse.
Kenneth W. Osbeck: The repetition of the joyous “noel” in the refrain is equivalent to our singing out “happy birthday” to someone.
Ace Collins, Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas: “In England, The First Noel was sung each year by many peasants as they lit the Yule log. THerefore, this became the song that started the entire Christmas season. Especially for children, this carol meant the beginning of the most wonderful time of the year. Down through the ages the tradition of the Yule log arried with it the music of this folk carol. Though its words and music were not written down, The First Noel survived.”
The first Noel the angels did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
In fields where they lay, keeping their sheep,
On a cold winter’s night that was so deep:
Refrain:
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
Born is the King of Israel.
They lookèd up and saw a star,
Shining in the east, beyond them far:
And to the earth it gave great light,
And so it continued both day and night:
And by the light of that same star,
Three Wise Men came from country far;
To seek for a King was their intent,
And to follow the star whersoever it went:
This star drew nigh to the north-west;
O’er Bethlehem it took its rest;
And there it did both stop and stay
Right over the place where Jesus lay:
Then entered in those Wise Men three,
Fell reverently upon their knee,
And offered there in his presence,
Their gold and myrrh and frankincense:
Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord
That hath made heaven and earth of nought,
And with his blood mankind hath bought.
Christmas in Concord, Massachusetts, 1863
Louisa May Alcott was born on November 29, 1832.
“Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.
“It’s so dreadful to be poor!” sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress.
“I don’t think it’s fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all,” added little Amy, with an injured sniff.
“We’ve got Father and Mother, and each other,” said Beth contentedly from her corner.
The four young faces on which the firelight shone brightened at the cheerful words, but darkened again as Jo said sadly, “We haven’t got Father, and shall not have him for a long time.” She didn’t say “perhaps never,” but each silently added it, thinking of Father far away, where the fighting was.
Nobody spoke for a minute; then Meg said in an altered tone, “You know the reason Mother proposed not having any presents this Christmas was because it is going to be a hard winter for everyone; and she thinks we ought not to spend money for pleasure, when our men are suffering so in the army. We can’t do much,but we can make our little sacrifices, and ought to do it gladly. But I am afraid I don’t” And Meg shook her head,as she thought regretfully of all the pretty things she wanted.
“But I don’t think the little we should spend would do any good. We’ve each got a dollar, and the army wouldn’t be much helped by our giving that. I agree not to expect anything from Mother or you, but I do want to buy UNDINE AND SINTRAM for myself. I’ve wanted it so long,” said Jo, who was a bookworm.
“I planned to spend mine in new music,” said Beth, with a little sigh, which no one heard but the hearth brush and kettle holder.
“I shall get a nice box of Faber’s drawing pencils. I really need them,” said Amy decidedly.
“Mother didn’t say anything about our money, and she won’t wish us to give up everything. Let’s each buy what we want, and have a little fun. I’m sure we work hard enough to earn it,” cried Jo, examining the heels of her shoes in a gentlemanly manner.
Notecards and Journal from Semicolon Artiste Daughter
I’ve added a couple of new products to my Cafe Press store. The artwork is by Artiste Daughter, Heidi.
Christmas in Independence, Missouri, 1949
On December 24, 1949, President Harry Truman sent Christmas greetings to the nation by radio from his home in Independence, Missouri:
Once more I have come out to Independence to celebrate Christmas with my family. We are back among old friends and neighbors around our own fireside. . . . Let us not on this Christmas, in our enjoyment of the abundance with which Providence has endowed us, forget those who, because of the cruelty of war, have no shelter–those multitudes for whom, in the phrase of historic irony, there is no room in the inn.
In this blessed season, let not blind passion darken our counsels. We shall not solve a moral question by dodging it. We can scarcely hope to have a full Christmas if we turn a deaf ear to the suffering of even the least of Christ’s little ones.
Since returning home, I have been reading again in our family Bible some of the passages which foretold this night. It was that grand old seer Isaiah who prophesied in the Old Testament the sublime event which found fulfillment almost 2,000 years ago. Just as Isaiah foresaw the coming of Christ, so another battler for the Lord, St. Paul, summed up the law and the prophets in a glorification of love which he exalts even above both faith and hope.
We miss the spirit of Christmas if we consider the Incarnation as an indistinct and doubtful, far-off event unrelated to our present problems. We miss the purport of Christ’s birth if we do not accept it as a living link which joins us together in spirit as children of the ever-living and true God. In love alone–the love of God and the love of man–will be found the solution of all the ills which afflict the world today. Slowly, sometimes painfully, but always with increasing purpose, emerges the great message of christianity: only with wisdom comes joy, and with greatness comes love.
In the spirit of the Christ Child–as little children with joy in our hearts and peace in our souls–let us, as a nation, dedicate ourselves anew to the love of our fellowmen. In such a dedication we shall find the message of the Child of Bethlehem, the real meaning of Christmas.
Taken from The American Patriot’s Almanac, compiled by William J. Bennett and John T.E. Cribb. Semicolon review here.
Free Audiobook
From now through Thanksgiving Day, Audible.com is giving away one FREE audiobook (no credit card required). This event ends November 26, 2009, at 11:59 PM.
I downloaded Alice in Wonderland for Z-baby; I’m planning to burn it to a CD and add it to her Christmas present. Scroll down about three posts for more audiobook giving suggestions.
To get your free audiobook, try this link and let me know if it works.