JYC December 12th and 13th

December 12th - My Christmas

Christmas this year certainly looks as though it will be different to what I am used to, a new country, that doesn’t celebrate Christmas is definitely going to make things more difficult than normal. My first Christmas without Christopher. I read my journal from last Christmas and I actually wrote that I hoped it would not be the last Christmas he spent with us, and here we are a year later and I am adjusting to the fact that he will be in the UK and we will be here in Saudi Arabia. Luckily, Glyn and Rebecca have invited him to spend Christmas Day with them, so he won’t be alone in his flat and will in all likelihood have a great time. I am filling the house with neighbours and Chris’ work colleagues in the hope that it will make up for the lack of family. We will phone all the family after our lunch and wish them all a Merry Christmas and then get ready for our evening Christmas dinner.

December 13th - Christmas Music

Silent Night!

The origin of the Christmas carol we know as Silent Night was a poem that was written in 1816 by an Austrian priest called Joseph Mohr. On Christmas Eve in 1818 in the small alpine village called Oberndorf it is reputed that the organ at St. Nicholas Church had broken. Joseph Mohr gave the poem of Silent Night (Stille Nacht) to his friend Franz Xavier Gruber and the melody for Silent Night was composed with this in mind. The music to Silent Night was therefore intended for a guitar and the simple score was finished in time for Midnight Mass. Silent Night is the most famous Christmas carol of all time! The irony of this is that when I was a child my Mum bought an upright electric organ and it sat in our dining room and I learned how to play Silent Night on it…. The downside to this was it was the only thing I ever learned to play by heart, so my family heard this song many, many times… it’s still one of my favourites, not so sure about the rest of the family though!!