What a day to choose.

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There I was yesterday saying how well organised I was........and went and forgot I had a couple of pictures missing from earlier posts.

Firstly, I meant to include this little Christmas card picture in with the one on Mistletoe.

I pop it up now......I can't wait another twelve months!

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Secondly, I had this put by for yesterdays bit on Christmas cards....for any of those interested in player-pianos........not very Christmassy is it?

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Back to today.

Well yesterday actually. I was all booked and ready to take the organ down to the school for a spot of Carolling.

Looked out and...blow me down it was snowing!

Now organs and snow do not get on very well together. What a day to choose.

Dennis came round to give lift into the car, which had been suitably scraped, de-iced and warmed.

It all went very well and at least the snow added to the Christmas atmosphere.

The school had asked me to play carols, but on looking at the music rolls I had, and those that I had borrowed from Dennis, there weren't all that many.

At lot of the tunes available are really from Christmas Songs....Frosty the Snowman, Rudolf etc.

I played all these...no-one seemed to mind and threw a couple of jolly polkas in as well.

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Do you know I have just read that this year someone has produced a safety leaflet to help singers avoid the pitfalls of performing Silent Night or Once in Royal David's City in a suburban street or local shopping centre.

In case there are singers out there lacking any common sense, the Carol Singing Guide warns: "Never sing in the road."

Naked flames can also be dangerous, it reminds festive souls, telling them: "Don't carry candles if they're not protected by a lantern."

And for those thinking of sending their young sons and daughters out at night to do some carol singing for them Ecclesiastical has these stern words: "Ensure children are always accompanied by an adult."

These are some of the words of advice from its well intentioned guide, which runs to four pages.

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In another paper I read that the Rev. Nick Baines, the Bishop of Croydon, said some of the nation's favourite carols were 'embarrassing' and 'inaccurate'.

And he warned that the songs encouraged people to regard the story of Christ's birth in the same light as Father Christmas or a pantomime tale.

'Once In Royal David's City' has Jesus as "our childhood's pattern" - even though we know almost nothing of his childhood - and invites children to be "mild, obedient, good as he", which means what, exactly? This sounds suspiciously like Victorian behaviour control.

'Some of the traditional carols perpetuate images of Christmas that have more to do with Victorian sentiment than the story we actually read in the gospels.'

By 'romanticising the festival and commercialising our culture' Christmas has become ' tame, fantastic and anaemic', he claimed.

But Bruce Grindlay, former director of music at Christ's Hospital, Sussex, said traditional carols were an integral part of the festive period.

'Some carols have a 800-year history and are entwined into the fabric of our society.

The picture above shows some of the oldest carol books in my collection. All well over 100 years old. If you click on the picture you will see that they were using the old 'Tonic sol-fa' method for the tunes. One of them was priced at a Penny. A 1d in old money when we had 240 to the £1.

A little bit of history preserved.

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