I welcome this Christmas season as an opportunity to honor the trees we adopt as symbols of so many things this time of year—the evergreen, the fir tree, the wonderful trees that serve the planet all year with their essential exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. O Tannenbaum, how faithful are thy branches.
Back in the late 1800s Christina Rossetti wrote a long poem, “In the Bleak Midwinter,” and then later Gustav Holst (of The Planets fame) wrote a melody that is usually associated with the piece. Though occasionally found in some hymnals, the song is not as familiar as other Christmas carols. Here is a short version, with my friend Ilze Akerbergs playing the wonderful guitar interlude. Happy Winter Solstice.
This year, Thanksgiving falls on my birthday. I am certainly thankful to still be here. It is truly painful to realize how many people we have lost to this pandemic, here in the US and worldwide. Here I gratefully celebrate my continuing existence by singing an aria from an early work by one of my heroes, George Frideric Handel. The song urges us to, in effect, gather rosebuds while we may.