Sing-a-long that Christmas song

These little choristers have heralded Christmas for me since the mid-sixties - good heavens -  half a century!!  They are Austrian. There are five of them with lamp bearer, their own little chapel, a tiny house and two trees.  Each chorister is just over an inch tall, so really very small, small enough I think to participate in 'Tiny Tuesday' this week, on the theme of Christmas as hosted by Walking Wombat.  As a child I coveted them greatly but Mum wouldn't give them to me to put in my bedroom because they were a gift from one of Mum's most talented piano pupils - a lovely lass called Christine - after her visit to Salzburg.  Mum was a school music teacher, choral conductor and private piano teacher - and this special little gift sung their way directly into her heart.  When Christine lost her life in a tragic accident whilst on holiday in France in 1969, aged just sweet sixteen,  this festive group became even more treasured.  Years later, in my twenties and thirties, and I too was a school teacher of music, choral conductor and private piano teacher, Mum and I used to joke how "if we had a penny for every time we played 'O come all ye faithful' and the other traditional carols (in all of which I am still word perfect - just hit my internal 'auto play' and I'm off...) for the school Christmas concert in the local church then we could have retired.  In pedagogical debate, (ok, nattering about our day and story telling about all those rehearsal incidents) it was always her opinion that 'Silent Night' was technically, the most difficult carol to pull off with a choir, with that rising interval on the word "peace" and the sedate pace that needed perfect tuning in the a cappella harmonies.  I said "Ding dong merrily on High" was the hardest to get the kids to sing without speeding up and ending up sounding more like "Camptown Races".   As for my Dad, who was not a music teacher,  well, it just isn't possible to articulate how very much he truly loved singing carols in his beautiful baritone. In fact, his love of singing, meant that he would sing carols all through the year, especially while driving, and especially 'the First Nowell'  and probably most especially because he knew it drove me nuts in May.  He also loved singing 'Silent Night' at Christmas, especially in German, he thought it sounded better. He was right.  So here is  "Stille Nacht" sung by St Thomas boys choir in Austria.  Three minutes of perfect choral performance, stirring the pot of so many Christmassy winter warm memories.  


Have decided to engage in the nostalgia a bit more with a two week Throwback Thursday project on 17th and 24th, posting photos on the theme of "the spirit of Christmas Past".  If you would like to join me, with any interpretation of the theme please tag your photos "Christmas Past.