Hello booklovers,
Christmas Eve is here. One of my most favourite nights of the year, one of quiet and anticipation now that the rush is over. I want to thank you all for your support and appreciation of our festive efforts, I do hope you have enjoyed them. We are finishing our Advent calendar with a contribution from our wonderful committee member Anna who has written some lovely posts for the Christmas blog. Today Anna reflects on one of the most important aspects of Christmas, finding a moment of peace through listening to Christmas carols. Fittingly for our festive swansong, Anna has chosen ‘Once in Royal David’s City’.
Anna writes…
‘The sound of BBC Radio 4 has been a constant in the background for most of my life, as all those who know of my devotion to the Archers will testify. But as well as that daily comforting dose of an everyday story of country folk, there is a yearly treat that I try never to miss; a Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols held in Kings College Chapel, Cambridge, and broadcast on BBC radio since 1928.
As a child I was happy to listen every year at 3pm on Christmas Eve, with my mum as she maybe sat for a moment during the hurly burly of the time before Christmas Day, to hear the opening carol gently easing us into the very special time to come. As an adult, taking on the organisation of Christmas myself, I realised (as I expect my mother did too), the importance of this moment of peace, to physically rest as I sit and listen, and more importantly as a reminder of the true meaning of Christmas for me. The opening carol is always Once in Royal David’s City, and the beauty of the first verse’s solo voice always has the capacity to still and calm me.