('Carol' From The Wind In The Willows...)
Villagers all, this frosty tide,
Let your doors swing open wide,
Though wind may follow, and snow beside,
Yet draw us in by your fire to bide;
Joy shall be yours in the morning!
Here we stand in the cold and sleet,
Blowing fingers and stamping feet,
Come from far away you to greet -
You by the fire and we in the street -
Bidding you joy in the morning!
For ere one half of the night was gone,
Sudden a star has led us on,
Raining bliss and benison -
Bliss tomorrow and more anon,
Joy for every morning!
Goodman Joseph toiled through the snow -
Saw the star o'er a stable low;
Mary she might not further go -
Welcome thatch, and litter below!
Joy was hers in the morning!
And then they heard the angels tell
'Who were the first to cry Nowell?
Animals all, as it befell,
In the stable where they did dwell!
Joy shall be theirs in the morning!'
Merry Christmas to all Crivvies, and have a great 2021.
34 comments:
Happy Christmas and all the best for 2021!
Thanks, MW, same to you.
Nice poem but...
Goodman Joseph toiled through the snow...
...in the Holy Land???
Poetic license, CJ, designed for a British audience. Remember, it probably wasn't even December.
Having said that, it does actually snow there.
Yes, I recall reading that Israel gets a light dusting of snow every few years.
Villagers all, this frosty tide...
...IF ONLY IT WAS a frosty tide where I live. But at the moment it's raining YET AGAIN. I am sick to the back teeth of rain, rain and more bloody rain. Oh, to spend the festive season in a country where it snows and Christmas actually feels like Christmas!
More than just a light dusting sometimes, CJ. It's been known to get quite heavy on occasion. They even have a ski resort over there, which is open for at least several days a year.
Hopefully we'll get some snow before long, but at least we had a small taste of it a few weeks back. (Well, we did where I live.)
Merry Christmas everyone! Hope it's a happy and peaceful time for you all.
I must dig out my few Christmas comics- I have a few 90s Superman Christmas issues (some of them grim tales of homelessness and drunk driving) and the Lobo Christmas Special (which features Santa in a knife fight with the Easter Bunny). Not quite like the Beano or Dandy xmas comics of my childhood, but they still mean something to me.
A great Christmas and New year to you and all your crinklies err I mean Crivvies 😊. Hopefully 2021 will be better than 2020 for us all. Take care and lang may yer lums reek.
And the very same to you, DS.
I've got a collected edition of DC Christmas tales, which I'd dig out to read if I could remember where I put it.
******
Crinklies is probably more accurate, McS. My lum was bricked up years ago - we've got a boiler now. (Yes, I know you were speaking figuratively.) Dug out any Christmas issues of your old comics for me that you were giving away yet? They must be worth the price of a bag of Maltesers at least.
We've actually had our lum reopened to install a wood burner. Actually I picked up a lovely copy of the 1964 Beezer annual (thought it was a copy it's so nice, but it's an original) for £4 a few days ago in an antique store. I plan to have a read of that at some point over Christmas ( a bit before my time so not one I would have read as a kid but Beezer was a favourite of mine when I was a child). I have a box of comics I'm planning to get rid of once things calm down (charity shops aren't taking lots of books at present) not sure if any are Xmas editions though.
It's all right if none of the comics you're giving away are Christmas editions, McS - I'll just have that 1964 Beezer Annual instead, hur-hur. (I deserve it, because it wasn't before MY time.) You'll just read it and give it to a charity shop anyway. Yes, I know - I'm a greedy, graspin' b*ggah, but I can't help it 'cos I was born that way. Ach, if you insist, I'll give you £4 for it.
Have a good one Kid. I know you’ll be going through the old memories over the next couple of days and my Christmas wish to you is that you gain a shiny new one that you cherish enough for it to be a fond memory later on.
Thanks, CN, that's a nice sentiment, and in return, I wish you everything you wish for yourself, but double. Just out of interest, did you buy the Ken Reid Odhams collection two volume set that came out a year or two ago? (How time flies - I can't even recall how long it's been since it came out.)
Actually I made a mistake it's the 1963 Beezer annual some nice Baxendale and Watkins art
Drat, that means you won't be wanting to part with it then. 1963? I'd have been old enough to have read it had I seen it, but without knowing what's on the cover, I can't say if I ever did or not.
Incidentally, if the copyright date inside the book says 1963, then it's the Annual for 1964. The Annuals on sale at the moment with a 2021 date on the cover will have a copyright date of 2020 inside. If your Annual is the 1963 one, it'll say 1962 inside.
Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas 🌲☃️
Published 1962. We would have been to young to read that surely at two or three years old. The first Beezer I remember buying was the 1966 one (published 1965) I need to track a copy of that as I remember it being a favourite as kid.
And everyone wishes you one right back, LH.
******
I'd have been hitting four, McS, and ripe for receiving it as a Christmas present had it occurred to my parents to buy it for me. I was aware of The Beano, TV Comic, Superman, and The Hotspur, etc., back then, so I suppose I was a good reader for my age. (Or maybe I only looked at the pictures.)
I can't recall when I first started reading comics etc and what the first titles were, they just always seem to have been in my life.
Things like that (with the exception of TV Comic - it was a Holiday Special, though that could've been 1963) would've been my brother's, and I'd have read them after him. I was certainly aware of the characters, as we used to put bits of wire into the 'leather' parts of skates, put them on our wrists, and pretend to be General Jumbo. We also used a Beano Annual as a seat on top of a skate, and took turns at using it as a 'mini-cart'.
Yes Kid, I got those volumes the moment they came out. We’ve been blessed with so many books since then too - Treasury of British Comics and Hibernia in particular though DC Thomson remains light. Another year goes by without a Mickey the Monkey collection.
I love the Johnny Future collection, and the recent Daleks Special is another triumph. (Though there's evidence of scuffing and flaking to the original art in at least a couple of places that should've been fixed.) What I'd love to see is a Mighty Moth collection - Rebellion should acquire the copyright immediately.
Merry Christmas! Hope one and all have as happy a holiday as circumstances will allow.
Thanks, RJ, and I'm sure that all Crivvies wish you everything you wish for yourself and then some.
Merry Christmas Kid and to all Crivvies everywhere.
Ta - and all Crivvies everywhere (and myself) wish the exact same thing (and more) right back at you, Woodsy.
Nadolig Llawen, Kid (that's Merry Christmas in Welsh). In my earlier comment I was complaining about the endless rain (and it got a LOT worse in the hours following my comment yesterday) but this morning there was a beautiful starry sky and it has remained dry all day. At the moment the Plough constellation (Ursa Major) is hanging in the sky behind my house - a lovely sight on this Christmas Eve :)
The moon looked particularly striking earlier this evening, making me wish I had my camera with me when I was out, CJ, and there's even a possibility of snow before too long, so maybe we'll get the snowy Christmas that we'd both like. Whether we do or not, Merry Christmas anyway.
Merry Xmas mate and stay safe
And you too, PS. May the Vishanti look after you.
Merry Xmas Everyone, hope you all had a good one,and all the best for 2021..lets hope its a much better year.
It would seem difficult for it not to be, RD, so let's hope it fulfills our hopes and expectations. Hope Santa was kind to you.
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