Month: December 2020

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Ring out the old, ring in the new!

I was looking for a Jacquie Lawson e-card to use for a Happy New Year greeting and found myself very drawn to this one (click here to view the card). The text was so perfect for the ending of this crazy year that I was curious to know more about it.

Well, the two verses used in the e-card are from “Ring Out, Wild Bells!,” a famous poem which itself is part of the much longer work titled “In Memoriam A.H.H.,” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Published in 1850, it’s amazing to me how pertinent the words are for this moment in time.

Tennyson’s poem has been set to music many times over the years and I listened to a number of versions, wondering if there might be one that particularly resonated with me. And that’s how I found Alana Levandoski and the song with which I gratefully bid farewell to 2020 and joyfully embrace 2021.

Ring Out, Wild Bells!
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

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Wisdom from the Grinch

I’ve been thinking some more about my “stink, stank, stunk” Christmas ornament and reflecting on just how pertinent the message of “The Grinch” feels this year.

The Grinch’s big “aha” moment came when he was confronted with the truth that removing all the packages, boxes, and bags from Whoville couldn’t stop Christmas from coming — “It came! Somehow or other, it came just the same!”

Christmas was way bigger and truer than he knew.

This year large numbers of us had to spend Christmas separated from family and loved ones, completely alone even. For some of us it might have felt like Christmas wasn’t coming. But just as the Grinch learned that Christmas doesn’t come from a store, maybe Christmas 2020 was teaching us that it doesn’t come from people, either.

Don’t get me wrong, I understand that celebrating with family is one of the most precious aspects of the holiday. But the source of the joy isn’t external; it starts inside us — with the Christmas spirit itself — and then radiates out from us to others: close family and friends, neighbors, the larger community, and eventually — with commitment, with practice, and with our sincere loving intention — to the whole world.

Welcome Christmas. Bring your cheer,
Cheer to all Whos, far and near.
Christmas Day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to grasp.
Christmas Day will always be
Just as long as we have we.
Welcome Christmas while we stand
Heart to heart and hand in hand.

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Stink, stank, stunk

The instant I saw it I knew I simply had to have this Christmas ornament! Then I felt a moment of doubt, wondering whether it was too “negative.”

But what you have to understand is just how much I love “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (the original animated version, that is); I mean, I absolutely LOVE it!

So, yes, this ornament distills the year 2020 down to three extremely succinct words, but those three oh-so-descriptive words are also imbued — for me, at least — with a super-abundance of joy!

Bottom line? This slightly off-the-wall ornament makes me chuckle, which helps me keep this annus horribilis in perspective.

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Tchaikovsky to the rescue

I had been thinking about the Nutcracker for about a week without actually doing anything about it. But then I was feeling so out of sorts the other day — just really having a hard time getting myself going — and I realized that an infusion of Tchaikovsky’s glorious music was what I needed to shift my energy.

Of course, I then stayed up way too late binge-watching Nutcracker videos, so it kind of backfired on me. But I think it was ultimately worth it to stumble on this wonderful video of the Waltz of the Flowers. The dancing is astral but I also want to applaud the costume designer(s): I don’t know that I’ve ever seen dresses that enhance the movements of the dance as well as these do. They’re absolutely magical!

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Still plugging away

I just made an interesting discovery, which has left me uncertain whether I should feel really bad (because I’m not doing any better than last year) or kind of relieved (because — hey! I’m not doing any worse than last year!).

Basically, I was doing a quick review of blog posts from last December to see if I had already written about a particular topic. And this is what I found for December 27, 2019, exactly one year ago today:

Well, it’s turning out to be “one-of-those-years”…when the Christmas to-do list is still incomplete three full days after Christmas. And when you realize you still haven’t sent any sort of card or greeting to some of your nearest and dearest friends.

Sigh.

You know they’ll understand, but still…

I’m definitely having a “the more things change, the more they remain the same” kind of moment. Or as somebody once said: “Déjà vu all over again!”

However…! Tonight Ramesha and I finished viewing/reading all twelve of our beautiful Jacquie Lawson e-card greetings, so we really are making some progress!

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Feeling the aftereffects

It took a while but I finally found a photo that expresses my day.

I’ve most definitely been holed up in recovery mode, but I hope to be ready to rejoin the world tomorrow.

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Christmas greetings (slightly belated)!

Last minute technical difficulties caused us to spend a fair amount of time today redoing our Christmas greeting and the little “gift” we created to share with friends and family.

(If you read yesterday’s post you won’t be surprised to learn that — as usual — it all came together in the last few days before Christmas!)

So, yes, this is slightly belated, but we send our warmest Christmas blessings to one and all!

(Visit musiclifejoy.com/christmas-2020 for our greeting, a little gift, and link to an update letter and Christmas playlist!) 🌟

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The more things change…

As an undergrad at SF State University final exams for the fall semester would frequently end sometime between December 19-22. So Christmas had to “wait,” with pretty much all buying of gifts and wrapping of presents and holding of parties getting crammed into those last few days.

[Interesting to remember that w-a-a-a-y-y-y-y back in those olden days there was no such thing as online shopping; you shopped in-person at a store — end of story.]

I took a break from college for a few years and worked as a waitress. Christmas was a time of extra shifts with big crowds and you didn’t even imagine you could take time off unless you had a ton of seniority.

During my years at the SF Conservatory I had already started freelancing and December was by far my busiest time. Orchestra holiday concerts; office parties; background music in shopping malls; and lots of church gigs. For years and years Christmas Eve was spent in a church, for my financial — not spiritual — wellbeing.

But then I became consciously aware of being on a spiritual path and my priorities started to shift. There finally came a Christmas Eve when I had to leave my church’s beautiful and deeply inspiring service early in order to perform at a church where the service meant nothing to me and felt totally lacking in inspiration. And I said, “no more!”

Which worked for a few years, until I got more committed and more involved and eventually started helping with the music ministry and even working on staff. And…you guessed it! That tendency has stayed with me through all my years with Ananda.

For years now my “personal” Christmas tends to wait until after the concert, after the pageant, after whatever else calls for music. So that Christmas inevitably finds me scrambling to catch up on gifts and wrapping and cards and socializing. At this point, I can’t imagine the holidays any other way.

But despite feelings of overwhelm and moments of stress — which I might occasionally mention to my spouse 😂 — I really wouldn’t have it any other way.

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A walk down memory lane

My title really should be “a climb down memory lane” because what I’m remembering is a visit to the Frasassi Caves back when I was living in Italy in the early 2000’s.

I hadn’t thought about it in years and years, but Andrea Bocelli just did a Facebook Live event in the caves and seeing that brought the memories flooding back.

The virtual tour video (above) will give you some sense of the immensity of the experience. I’ll never forget how small and insignificant I felt as we climbed down and down and down, moving through chamber after chamber of the caves — each larger and more fantastic than the last.

I also remember the constant dripping; the almost eerie stillness of the standing pools; and how cold it was compared to the warm weather aboveground.

I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to see such wonders, but I don’t know that I could do it again. I don’t consider myself claustrophobic, but I did find that I got rather uncomfortable the deeper into the earth we went. I had to work really hard to keep my imagination from dwelling on just how much dirt was sitting above our heads or wondering what would happen if there was an earthquake!

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The Christmas Mystery

Thrilled to finally be able to share the Ananda Worldwide Virtual Choir version of this beautiful, beautiful song by Swami Kriyananda! It was part of our Christmas concert, but is totally worth sharing on its own as well.

I remember how puzzled I was when I first heard this song, because it seemed to be a “classic” traditional carol and I couldn’t understand how I had never heard it before!