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In The Bleak Midwinter In 1872, Scribner’s Monthly published a Christmas poem by Christina Rossetti placing the Nativity in a snowy landscape familiar to most American readers. The poem was set to the music of Gustav Holst in the 1906 … Continue readingIn The Bleak Midwinter
Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248 Johann Sebastian Bach composed this oratorio for the Christmas season of 1734. It is presented in six parts pertaining to the Christmas story. Part 1 is about the Birth of Christ. Part 2 is the angelic … Continue readingChristmas Oratorio, BWV 248
Xmas Heroes – Parents What would Christmas be without parents? As much as Christmas has become a child-focused affair, it really depends on the parents to bring the magic to the holiday. Having been on both sides of the spectrum, … Continue readingXmas Heroes – Parents
Xmas Heroes – Gayla Peevey The 1950’s were a great time to be a kid. In the wake of the Second World War, America was expressing a new sense of optimism and can-do attitude. Industry that had ramped up to … Continue readingXmas Heroes – Gayla Peevey
Xmas Heroes – Christmas Truce On June 28th of 1914, a Bosnian Serb nationalist assassinated the presumptive heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Due to a mad web of international treaties and cultural obligations, this began a horrendous … Continue readingXmas Heroes – Christmas Truce
Xmas Heroes – Francis Pharcellus Church A child asked a question that is of concern to so many children at one time or another. Virginia O’Hanlon asked her father, who referred her to their favorite newspaper. The family had often … Continue readingXmas Heroes – Francis Pharcellus Church
Xmas Heroes – Charles Dickens In 1843, Charles Dickens published a novella that has never been out of print at any time from then until today. The story has also been presented in virtually every other form of media. … Continue readingXmas Heroes – Charles Dickens
Xmas Heroes – Clement Clarke Moore After a sleigh ride from Greenwich Village in 1822 and struck with the holiday spirit, the staid professor of classics and religious studies at the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church was … Continue readingXmas Heroes – Clement Clarke Moore
Xmas Heroes – Franz Xaver Gruber Franz Gruber was the son of linen weavers, Josef and Maria Gruber. He worked in their employ until he was 18, when he began training as a school teacher. In 1807, he completed his … Continue readingXmas Heroes – Franz Xaver Gruber
Historical Grinches – Political Correctness We’ve seen ruthless kings and emperors. We’ve seen wild-eyed revolutionaries. Now we’re looking at something altogether worse. Madness usually ends with the madman. A bad idea spreads like a virus and kills like the slow, … Continue readingHistorical Grinches – Political Correctness