I also dedicate today's Christmas carol to my Facebook friend, Linda McShane (Was Midgley) who also celebrates her birthday today.
During the month of December, I will be daily singing a Christmas Carol or a Christmas song. My song today is to remind us that December is ‘The most wonderful time of the year’.
‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ is a popular Christmas song written in triple time in 1963 by Edward Pola and George Wyle.
‘It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year’ is a celebration and description of activities associated with the Christmas season. The song focuses primarily on get-togethers between friends and families. Among the activities included in the song is the telling of ‘scary ghost stories,’ hosting parties, receiving spontaneous visits from friends, universal social gaiety, spending time with loved ones, sledging for children, roasting marshmallows, sharing stories about previous Christmases, and singing Christmas carols in winter weather.
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As the first day of December dawns, what better time to remind ourselves of the 'Christmas Message'.
It is a fact, that for most of us, Christmas is ‘the most wonderful time of the year’. What can possibly provide more cheer than to see and hear a crowd of carol singers in the square, and traders selling roasted chestnuts on the Christmas market street nearby? Whom among us can fail to surrender to the innocent charm of a child snuggling up beneath their sheets on a Christmas Eve, half wanting to go to sleep and wake up to presents under the Christmas tree in the morning, and the other half of their curious little mind trying to stay awake and hear Santa arrive? Christmas Eve will witness worshippers at Midnight Mass celebrating the birth of Jesus, revellers at Christmas Eve parties and mum and dad having a quiet Christmas drink after getting everything prepared for Christmas morning when the children wake up. All of this is what Christmas is about.
Christmas time is that magical time of the year when hardened hearts are softened, and a new dawn beckons hope across the world and promise the rule of love in the birth of a new-born star. It is that time of year that reminds all who inhabit God’s earth that this world turns on an axis of His love. Christmas more than any other time of the year reminds us that it is God’s love that makes the world go ‘round, but it the love of mankind expressed between each other that keeps it spinning in perpetual motion. ‘Love really does make the world go ‘round!’
Our Lord God made the heavens and the stars, and then He made the Earth. Then, He made all the land, sea and underworld and filled it with beasts of the field, creatures of the soil, birds of the air and fish in the sea. He filled his world with all manner of plants, seed crop, foliage, flowers and wildlife. When God had made all these things, He then made his most wondrous thing of all; you!
You are the living embodiment of God’s love on this Earth! You are His most loving creation of all, and it is through the love of each of you, as expressed to one another that sustains all life, hope and happiness. Yes, God made this world and set it spinning on an axis of love, but it is only through the love of mankind for the rest of mankind, that the earth keeps spinning within an orbit of love, charity, forbearance and forgiveness. The day that mankind stops loving his neighbour, all hope and happiness will stop and the earth will rotate no more.
Finally, do not forget those people of bereaved circumstances this Christmas, especially the victims of the London Bridge terrorist attack a few days ago and their families. We pray that the hurt and emotional hole in the heart caused by this loss of your loved ones heal with the passage of time. Not forgetting all those of impoverished circumstances, and those who experience family estrangement and have remained out of contact for so long that they fear reinitiating contact for fear of rejection. We pray for the people who experience unemployment, loneliness, severe illness, addiction and homelessness. Our thoughts are also with those people who lack hope and harbour feelings of hate, resentment or helplessness. We hope for peace to break out in places of civil unrest, whether within the knife gangs on our streets or in war-torn countries. Please spare a thought for all these people this Christmas because these are people for whom this festive season may hold nothing to cheer about. For us, it can be ‘The Most Wonderful Time of The Year’, but for them, not so.
Have a happy birthday, John from Uncle Billy and Sheila.x
Happy birthday, Linda McShane Was Midgley. Thank you for being my Facebook friend and I hope you have a smashing birthday. Bill x
May you all have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Love and peace. Bill and Sheila xxx