Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Me singing my favorite Christmas song

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=4871497601732&set=vb.1726147130&type=2&theater




This is an amateur recording of me singing Gabriel's Message the 13th of December 2014 :)
I found this carol through my favourite rock band, Marillion. And since then, this has been my favourite carol, and I hope I does it justice.

x

The Christmas Personalities

Season greetings to you all.

This time of year brings out a lot of feelings in us all, both good and bad. And in the middle of traditions and good memories of a normal Christmas personality, we meet the people who act and look like Christmas threw up on them, and we meet people who would make The Grinch look like Santa. I will make a little Much Ado About Shakespeare list, and try to locate all the different types. If I now, with this entry, push some buttons, well... it's all intentional ;) But good fun :D

1. The Christmas Saint
Starting with the good guys, or so they would want the world to think.
'I just gave to charity, it feels so meaningful this time of year.' And from a person who's giving to charity all year without broadcasting, to pat someone who gives once a year on the back seems a bit over the top. But still, giving to charity once a year, is clearly better than not giving at all. But we all know that they need dinner in July as well as in December, they need shoes in March, they need school all year, they need fresh water and medicine every day when they are thirsty and ill... and there are people in this world who works hard to make this happen every day, not just during Christmas, so don't brag about a single donation.
The Christmas Saint is also the one that will give presents of the type: 'A goat has been given in your name to a tribe in the Amazon jungle, thank you so much for your generosity.' And then you're left feeling guilty for actually wanting a real present, even though you're the one with a monthly donation to Joriel in the Philippines, who support Amnesty International every month, and on SMS, who give a donation to shelters every month, so that two people get a warm meal a day, who gives to MSF every month, to help them fight Ebola, and other threatening pandemies.. and you end up feeling guilty because you haven't done enough, because you didn't give a goat. Don't worry, you have :D And it helps, the goat helps, the dinner donations, the sponsoring of a child in the Philippines...We who live in this part of the world have to help. We cannot be the ones who have so much, and can't give to those who have so little... history will tell us that if they are held down long enough, we'll have a revolution at our hands...understandably so. So let's keep the giving spirit of Christmas alive all year long.

2. The Christmas Junkie
This person has covered every inch of their house in Christmas decorations. They proudly wear their selection of hideous Christmas jumpers - and having said this, I actually think the part with a hideous Christmas jumper is slightly funny. We should all get a bit silly during Christmas, stop taking ourselves too seriously, and be a bit goofy :) However, getting slightly off track here. We were talking about the Christmas junkies :) They send 734 Christmas cards every year. They make costumes for the Church's nativity play. They put up three Christmas trees in November, to really soak up the Christmas feeling...they place Christmas spice in every corner, just to savour that Christmas smell. I just saw a bloke on telly, and in his version of reality... he wakes up to Christmas morning every single day...he has Christmas dinner every day, of each year...he is the founder of the Christmas Junkies, I think....

3. The Christmas Whatever
This is a person who couldn't give a flying "#$% whether it's Christmas or not (but secretly I think they do, the 'whatever' is just a defense. Having said that, they do exist, the people who really doesn't care.). This is a person who will loudly tell people how he or she don't really care about Christmas. How they choose to do something else that Christmas related actions on the days in question. And they will tell you about how silly your choice to celebrate Christmas is, and all you can think about is maybe someone should invite this person to a proper Christmas celebration, and give him or her a good hug :)

4. The Christmas Fury
Now, this is a person with issues, maybe they only got socks from Santa one year, and now he or she takes it out on all other people with an irrational anger towards everything even remotely Christmasy. The Christmas Fury is a person who spends a lot of time hating, and who will not hesitate telling you how much he or she hates, and how he or she is walking the only path of justice and normality... I think we all have tried, and concluded with the fact that arguing with a person like this is like a broken pencil, pointless... Happiness is in many cases a choice, and so is fury...

But I'm going to take the opportunity to be a bit serious here, and mention the one thing that makes me livid during Christmas...and that is adults forgetting how much more important their children's Christmas is than alcohol. Please, keep the alcohol to a minimum, maybe even stay away...it's a couple of days when it means so much to the little ones, and cost you so little to stay away. Think of them first...please.

5. The Christmas Stresser
We all know this person, I'm sure. This is an individual who only see the work and the stress with Christmas, they don't see the good parts. These people let themselves be overwhelmed by how clean and perfect everything has to look, how all the presents have to be expensive enough, how the house has to look perfectly... A little stress to make sure the meal is ready in time, and the important presents are in the house, yes, but to let this be so stressful that when you finally get to the opening of the presents, it is considered 'hell', and that is not good. We live in a part of the world we have so much that we have a mountain under the tree, and opening the presents is stressful, more than cosy.

It doesn't matter to your children if there is a dust bunny or two in the corners (unless your son-like mine-has dust allergy, in which case I have to hoover...), as long as they can spend some quality time with their parents and their family... and by quality time I mean mobile phone free hours with people...looking them in the eye :D
Sorry, don't mean to get on my moral high horse here, I just think that Christmas is a time to really leave technology in a corner, with the dust bunnies, and spend time, talking and interacting with the little ones x


6. The Christmas Chiller
'Chill, Christmas is a long time away still.' he says, and it's early afternoon on Christmas eve (which is the big day in Norway). 'The shops are open for fifteen more minutes, loads of time... These geniuses might present presents of 'I just ordered it online, it's on its way'-kind. Or you get toilet seat covers from the petrol station, or something like that. Obviously, the thought counts, but when there seems to have been no thought whatsoever, then it's a bit annoying.


7. The Christmas Panicer
'Oh my God! Christmas is only four months away and I haven't started buying presents.' 'Or, I bought all the presents four years ago, but now I can't find them.' 'What if they won't like what I got, I have to get some more.'
This person is a Christmas Stresser on speed. The stress has taken over, and the worries about what could go wrong is defining every moment...when you could choose to think about what could go right :) Chill, not too much...as things might need to be in the house before the halls are decked with holly, but chill. Being together is the best thing <3

8. The Christmas Cheapskate
The extreme is always over the top, whether we're talking about the big spender or the Scrooge of the group. And this person is many times also confused with, or actually fused with the Christmas Fury... Though, some times this person is a self satisfying person who has a good reply and a perfectly good reason not to give people a Christmas present, and to some degree we might agree with them. The society is a greedy society, and money definitely talks. But then I suggest getting creative rather than cheap. Because I don't like overspending, but I do like putting thought and care into the things I give my family and friends for Christmas. This means sitting down and creating something, like a painting, or a beautiful Christmas Bauble or knitting a scarf, or something like that.
Creativity, my friends <3

9. The Christmas Snob
The cheapskate's complete opposite. This is a person who, when using crystals on their tree, only uses Swarowski, or diamonds. This becomes a bit sad if this person is one with a normal income, in which case one has to ask, what and to whom are you trying to prove? Come Christmas eve, it's mostly family anyway... And the family, and children, don't care about the expensive baubles on your tree, they care about the fact that there IS a tree :)
I do like fancy and sparkling baubles on my tree... and I will decorate my tree so that it's my kind of beautiful... but I can guarantee you that there will only be ONE swarowski crystal on my tree, a little snowflake :) I'm no snob...ask those who knows me, I need protection from myself, that's how much I spill when I for example eat ;)

10. The Christmas Singer
I am not talking about the bands of high quality that have a few gigs just before Christmas because their friends request them to.
I'm talking about women in tight dresses, showing indecent cleavage, and polished men in suits, standing in churches singing about that little baby in the manger with pathos and seriousness, mentally rubbing their hands with greed from the ticket and CD-sale money...clearly not giving the previously mentioned flying "#$% about Christmas, compassion or sharing, as long as people come to hear them scream the Christmas into existence. I don't think I have to tell you, but this kind of Christmas spirit is one that I have developed a serious allergy against. I could even turn into The Christmas Fury when exposed to this kind of fake culture

I must admit that I on different days could fit into any of the above, but I think, in general, I have quite normal feelings towards Christmas. It has always been a time I really appreciate. But last year I lost someone just before Christmas, and this has made me think.
And the only thing that really matters in this time is to spend it with the people you love. And really spend it with them, not just sit next to them, surfing on each your tablet... Suddenly it's too late... So, that's the only thing I will urge you all to do, from America to Japan, from Norway to Australia, from England to India <3

Happy Christmas, my friends...
Love and light <3


I want to thank Linda Fjeld Nesvåg for the idea for this entry. She's a fellow student, fellow blogger, and most important of all, a very good friend <3