All Hayle to the Days

advent wreath - Copy

Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Collect for the First Sunday in Advent, The Book of Common Prayer

It’s official. I made my Advent wreath this afternoon of ferny, fragrant cedar, and I hung it with red satin ribbons from its hook in the den.

And the most beautiful and blessed Season of all is upon us once more.

And as a little gift to my Gentle Readers, I’d like to share a few of the old and loved songs that Philip has recorded over the years of my friends and me singing together in the parlor. Not polished or perfect, by any means, but merely sisters in Christ delighting together in the sweet kinship of music and love for our Lord, whose glorious appearing we now have the joy of celebrating once more…

All Hayle to the Days

English traditional

Love Came Down

Christina Rossetti, 1885

God bless you all as we embark upon the sweet anticipation of Advent…

9 Comments

  1. Lanier, those are truly beautiful recordings…lovely harmonizing. You’re kind to share them for the start of this advent season. And…you have wonderful acoustics in your parlour! May God bless you during these holy weeks.

  2. Lovely, just lovely! Thank you for sharing them with us.

    I was wondering, how many ladies were singing and which part do you sing? And I agree with the commenter above, the acoustics in your parlor must be amazing. (o:

  3. Oh, I love “All Hayle to the Days.” I’d never heard it before! And I must add, that my dear friend, Carolyn, and I both sighed heavily as we read your post about your reading group. How we’d love to have one together, or even for each of us to have one, but we live too far apart. How fortunate you are to have stayed close to your friends all these years! I wish there were a solution for those of us destined to move around. Thank you for your blog.

  4. Congratulation on your gorgeous decoration! It looks like you could spend peaceful, quiet evenings in this room – just what we all long for in this often too busy time.
    I know this is the wrong place but I couldn’t find how to write to you: I was wondering if I could link you to my blog, which is part of my piano studio website? Actually I already did because I am so fascinated with your beautiful website and I want many people to see it. If you have any objectons, please let me know and I will remove it of course!

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