There are several tracks that feature congregational singing, although just like Songs of Praise or other BBC-recorded services, the quality of singing seems astonishingly high when compared to those in any of the four countries in which Miss Mussel has attended church.

This recording will be up until Epiphany after which time you will have to buy your own copy to enjoy. It’s a bit cheeky to post an entire album plus music is rather bandwidth-hungry.

Lots more on Praetorius to come in 2009. He’s quite the character. Until then…enjoy!

Like this? Why not try:

• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 15
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 13
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 11

Like this? Why not try:

• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 23
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 22
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 21

Here is a literal, non-OM translation:

It’s a beautiful Christmas night
Snow spreads its white coat
And eyes lift toward the sky
On their knees, small children
Before closing their eyes
Say a last prayer.

Little Father Christmas
When you come down from the sky
With thousands of toys
Don’t forget my little stocking.

But before you leave
You should dress warmly
Outside you will be so cold
And it’s kind of my fault.

I can’t wait for sunrise
To see if you brought me
All the lovely toys that I see in my dreams
And that I ordered from you

Refrain

The sandman has passed
The children are going to sleep
And you will be able to begin,
With your sack on your back,
To the sound of church bells,
Your distribution of surprises.

And when you are on your beautiful cloud
Come first to our house
I wasn’t always very good
But I ask for your forgiveness.

Refrain

The penultimate installment of this year’s Advent Odyssey comes from La France (obvs) and is the song Petit Papa Noel. Papa does have his own Facebook page but details about the song are not to be found anywhere on the interwebs, making it far and away the most mysterious installment in our Advent journey.

Tino Rossi gave this performance on Christmas Eve 1977 along with a dozen or so irresistably bescarfed and betoqued poppets [pop-pay] presumably on French television although that is quite possibly an Apochryphal Factoid.

Rossi himself was, in his day, quite the sensation. He was a French cabaret singer who also sang art songs by Jules Massenet and Reynaldo Hahn. Like Liszt and Lennon, he could have the ladies swooning with just a few bars of a romantic ballad.

Petit Papa was a hit for Rossi the very first time he recorded it in 1946, selling over 30 million copies. A staggering figure, to say the least.

Despite his success with acting and singing, Rossi would be known as the most famous person from his French island homeland, Corsica. That honour was stolen by an enterprising artillery officer called Napoléon.

Miss Mussel doesn’t usually go in for singing animals but this little item pulls at heartstrings she never knew she had.

Puppy! French-speaking toddler! Christmas!

*wilt*

Like this? Why not try:

• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 22
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 21
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 16

Gingerbread, sugar cookies, shortbread, jam cookies, puppy chow, haystacks and cereal cookies have all had their share of admirers at OM-sponsored parties but the item that gets the most raves is the simplest to make.

Behold! Miss Mussel brings you glad tidings of great joy and truffles for all people. The Joyful Mystery of The Perfect Christmas Sweet is now in your care.

OM Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles

Measurements for UK cooks are included in square brackets but they are estimates only. The Imperial measurements on the left are the most accurate.

Inside
1/2 c crunchy natural peanut butter [4 oz]
1 c icing sugar [4.5 oz]
1/2 c finely chopped unsalted peanuts [2.5 oz]
3 tbsp whipping cream [45 mL]
1 tsp vanilla [5 mL]

Outside
6oz 70%-90% cocoa solids chocolate [170g]
1 tbsp shortening [15 mL]

peanut halves (optional)

makes 20-30
[depends on how big you make each truffle and whether you have the conjuring powers of Mere Mussel]

Mere Mussel's magick skillz make a plate of truffles stick to the wall

What You Need To Do - Part The First

1. Mix together the icing sugar, peanut butter, chopped peanuts, whipping cream and vanilla. This can be done easily with a fork. At first it will seem like there is no way the ingredients will mix together. Be patient, grasshopper. Keep mixing.
2. Roll mixture into balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. Baking paper works as well.
3. Put the items into the fridge for at least 30 minutes for firming up.

What You Need To Do- Part The Second

1. While the first part is refrigerating, melt the chocolate in a double boiler with the shortening
2. Let it cool slightly but not too much. The mixture should still be runny when you dip a fork in it.
3. Get the balls out of the fridge and, using two forks, dip each one in to the chocolate, letting the excess run off.
4. Place them back on the tray and put them in the fridge to harden, roughly 30 minutes.
5. Do not have a conniption if the chocolate pools at the bottom of your ball once it is back on the tray. This is unavoidable. You can either cut it off when the chocolate hardens or ignore it. Once they are tasted, visual appeal is no longer an issue. Beware of stampede as word spreads throughout the party.
6. If so desired, put half a peanut on the top of each truffle and place them into the individual festive foil wrappers.

Substitutions
This recipe is like a Bach fugue: As long as all the parts are there in the right ratios, it doesn’t matter how you abuse it. Somehow the end result is still pleasing. Even with saxophones. And clowns. And white tailcoats.]

As such - regular peanut butter and chocolate chips can be used in a pinch. The result will just be a lot sweeter. Smaller balls are recommended.

If you don’t have whipping cream to hand, mix together 1.5 tbsp melted butter and 3 tbsp milk together, et voila! [Some rather elaborate fraction work went into working that out. Bearing in mind Miss Mussel's abysmal track record regarding the mathematical arts, you might like to know that the original ratio was 1/3 c melted butter and 3/4 cup milk to yield 1 c whipping cream.]

Also, regular whole milk works ok too in an extreme pinch.

Like this? Why not try:

• Audio: Lutheran Mass For Christmas Morning - Michael Praetorius
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 23
• O Holy Night Mystery Singer Unmasked-

The short version is, Steve’s friend bet him that he couldn’t sing a high Bb.

Steve proved him wrong.

Sort of.

I knew I had a long way to go before the high notes, so as I started, I decided to demonstrate everything I had ever heard bad singers do in my career. If I hit the same pitch twice, it would not be the exact same pitch. If I held a long note I would go sharp for a while then flat for a while, never holding a true pitch just as most amateur singers do. I over-emphasized words, I emphasized the wrong syllables and I breathed in awkward places.

The basic tone quality of my own voice did not have to be tampered with too much, I do sound like crap!

[My friend] was laughing, we were silly…[..]..and then we got to the high chorus.

…I knew I could not reach those notes. I can’t reach an F on a normal day. But we were letting off steam, celebrating the end of months of hard work and I got the “superman” syndrome and just decided on the spot to go for it!

To my surprise I actually had some kind of sound up there, but it was obviously not a pleasant sound. [My friend] started laughing uncontrollably which just gave me more encouragement. The highest note was coming, I was already on a D above [the] B flat which is absolutely beyond anything most men can sing but I realized I could not reach the G on “divine” so I switched to a falsetto.

The switch was not a smooth transition and as I came back down my voice was almost spent so I dropped down the octave preparing for the end, which is more subdued. I was really hurting to the point that at the end I gave up singing and recited, “You know it was Dee-vine that night.”

I had just enough voice to sing the last, “O night divine” to which I starting seeing just how flat I could go, and for one final added “bad singer” device, I took a big breath in the middle of a sustaining note on the worse possible syllable and came back in and held it to the end.

There you go folks. Happy Christmas.

The full interview is much, much longer. Go here to read it.

Like this? Why not try:

• Audio: Lutheran Mass For Christmas Morning - Michael Praetorius
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 23
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 22

*Sigh*

There’s not even any teenagers about and Miss Mussel still managed to outed herself as Terminally Uncool And Out Of Touch With The Kids.

Anyway….this should cure any case of the Mondays that might be lurking in your place of employment. Crank up those speakers, gather folks around your Microsoft-approved hearth and take a listen to this Christmas classic. It will knock the socks off that Messiah on Crack thing that is circulating through the interwebs.

The song in question is the heavyweight of the Christmas repertoire. It’s the one everyone man of a certain age with a moderately decent set of pipes fantasizes about conquering each Christmas Eve. Personally, Miss Mussel has witnessed 5 years of a man well into his eighties and barely able to climb the altar stairs unassisted, teeter into position, give a slight nod to the organist and proceed to belt this lovely out of the park with astonishing conviction.

Other friends have reported versions in their hometowns, one involving a pair of men who have, for years, happily transformed the piece into a duet. They mark the significance of this event by making their performance the only time of the year they upgrade from black sweatpants to something with a non-elasticated waist and a zipper.

[Note to feed reader peeps: You're going to have to click through on this one]

It’s very likely our featured soloist is doing this on purpose…..but that somehow makes it all the more impressive.

The carol was composed in 1847 by the French composer and critic Adolphe Adam. A teacher of Léo Delibes, Adam was a prolific composer of operas and ballet and is most famous for his ballets Giselle and Le Corsaire.

Dubious factoid you can wow your family with: “On 24 December 1906, Reginald Fessenden, a Canadian inventor, broadcast the first AM radio program, which included him playing “O Holy Night” on the violin. The carol therefore appears to have been the first piece of music to be broadcast on radio.”

What would Christmas be without a little Wikiality?

Just another Thursday.

Like this? Why not try:

• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 23
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 16
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 21

What is Christmas without superfluous strings swells, and key-change via meat cleaver?

B to the O to the R to the ING.

To all those musicians who have slogged their way through the inevitable Christmas pop concerts: this year Miss Mussel feels your pain.

For the first time in five years, she pulled her horn out of it’s super nifty case, got the dents hammered out and got in shape for a gig. Shape, of course, is used here in its most loose definition which is something like “not 100% out of shape”.

A few cheesy contemporary adult worship songs aside [I'm looking at you Bill Gaither], the gig was actually rather fun. Reasons for this include having a BFF as a section mate, knowing there were only 4 concerts get through and the fact that there was only one rehearsal.

The insane number of rehearsals is why Miss Mussel steers clear of amateur orchestras. She’d rather sit in the pub and socialize. High school bandrooms are for high schoolers.

Anyway….back to Christmas and Mr Leroy Anderson. His whole bio is readily available if you are so fascinated. Instead, Miss Mussel presents another installment of:

Possibly Apocryphal Factoids

• Anderson spoke English and Swedish while at school but he eventually became fluent in Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, German, French, Italian, and Portuguese. As one does.
• In 1945 Anderson was assigned to the Pentagon as Chief of the Scandinavian Desk of Military Intelligence.
• His first name was pronounced Luh-ROY rather than the more contemporary LEE-roy.

Incidentally, the violin part in the adoring section of Oh Come All Ye Faithful is a rip-off/borrowing/homage of/from/to a Bethoveen symphony, no? Is it 5? Miss Mussel’s money is on 7.

Like this? Why not try:

• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 23
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 22
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 16

Today’s installment is brought to you courtesy of Frere Mussel who is celebrating his birthday in La Suisse. The carol is Quelle est cette odeur agréable?, which is awkwardly translated in English versions as Where Is That Goodly Fragrance?

The tune is quite mesmerizing in the way that Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine is and sung quite ably in this video by the Umeastudentkor in Sweden.

Rather surprisingly, considering all the search engine love up for grabs this season, the interwebs are rather short on information about this bit of Adventual loveliness. As far as Miss Mussel can tell, the text is traditional French from the 17th century set to music stolen from John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera from 1728, which was previously stolen from folk singers, pubs, hymnals and contemporary operas.

Here’s an original OM translation of the French text. It doesn’t fit the music and and is more conceptual rather than literal in its approach. en anglais.

What is that lovely smell,
Shepherds who charm our journey?
Does it not smell to you like a field of spring flowers?

What a bright light strikes our eyes in the night.
The noon sun has ne’er shone so brilliantly.

Here are many more wonders!
Omnipotent Father, what do I hear in the wind?
Never have our ears heard such a symphony.

Fear not, all ye who are faithful.
Listen to the angel of the Lord.
He announces a wonder that will fill you with happiness.

Unto you has been born Saviour
In a Bethlehem manger.
Go! And let nothing prevent you from adoring him.

Glory to God in the highest
Peace on earth and goodwill towards men.

[that's womyn too...unbunch those panties..Santa can see you.]

Like this? Why not try:

• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 19
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 22
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 16

The tree of life my soul hath seen,
Laden with fruit and always green:
The trees of nature fruitless be
Compared with Christ the apple tree.

2. His beauty doth all things excel:
By faith I know, but ne’er can tell
The glory which I now can see
In Jesus Christ the apple tree.

3. For happiness I long have sought,
And pleasure dearly I have bought:
I missed of all; but now I see
‘Tis found in Christ the apple tree.

4. I’m weary with my former toil,
Here I will sit and rest awhile:
Under the shadow I will be,
Of Jesus Christ the apple tree.

5. This fruit doth make my soul to thrive,
It keeps my dying faith alive;
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree.

The text to this carol first appeared in Joshua Smith’s 1784 edition of Divine Hymns or Spiritual Songs. Who exactly penned the poem is a fact lost to history but it was certainly not meant to be a sung only at Christmas. Although other composers had taken their turns setting the text, the most famous melody was created in the 1940s by English musicologist and composer Elizabeth Poston.

A little bit of context for readers that need it: The Tree of Life, to which the text refers, is the sister tree to The Tree Of Knowledge Of Good And Evil in The Garden of Eden. Immortality and everlasting life are the gifts of the first tree, while the second bears the fruit that Adam and Eve ate. Their punishment for eating the fruit and becoming self-aware (which was against God’s command) was to be banished from the Garden and denied access to The Tree of Life and its fruit.

The specific type of fruit is not mention in Genesis and various rabbis have posited that it was a fig, grapes, pomegranate or even wheat. In Christian art, the fruit is almost always an apple which may be due to a Latin play on words between malus (apple) and malllum (evil).

In any case, the tune is lovely and really, that’s what determines about 80% of a songs likeability.

Like this? Why not try:

• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 20
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 16
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 22

Reader Pat suggested these 3 minutes of silliness in the comments from yesterday’s post and really, who among us has not sat through a performance that pretty well matches this one? Its generous lashings of earnest and awful combined with a dash of Christmas cheer equals endearing.

If it’s your job to provide the Christmas Day entertainment, there’s an equally magnificent Silent Night you may want to bookmark. Also, be sure to check back on Monday for the Day 22 installment. It’s enough to make the Messiah On Crack that is making the rounds sound like a minor aberration.

The First Noel (or Nowell if you like) is of English origin and at least 500 years old although some people thing it could be up to 900. Kind of like Miss Mussel’s Great Aunt Mabel. *rimshot* Just kidding! She’s not English at all.*

There are nine verses, three of which are not usually sung because of awkward lie/-ly rhymes, non-Christmas content and mention of that seasonal giggle-inducer - the ass.

Like this? Why not try:

• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 17
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 11
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 9

It’s 1977, Jimmy Osmond is still a treble and powder blue was the wardrobe colour of choice for the Mormon Tabernacle costume department.

Heady days in Salt Lake City, folks.

With the whole Osmond family on hand to close out the show, sporting outfits in complementary shades of the focal colour, that year’s Christmas special could only have gone down in history as a success. Except for the slightly creepy hologram Jesus at the end of the broadcast. That we could have done without.

Most of the stories concerning Silent Night’s creation are remarkably sweet, the most elaborate of which involves a mouse, an organ-shaped snack and a last minute scramble to find accompaniment for the Christmas Eve service. Miss Mussel hates to be the one to bring the cold, harsh sledgehammer of reality out of the cupboard but according to the Silent Night Society, all such tales are apocryphal.

What really happened is rather more touching and, surprisingly, far more relevant to our current situation. Joseph Mohr, a Catholic priest wrote the poem in 1816 while serving at a parish in rural Austria. He moved to a new church in 1818 and had the organist there, Franz Xaver Gruber, have a go at setting the text for the Christmas Eve service. It seems that Mohr asked for a setting for guitar simply because he wanted a setting for guitar, not because there anything wrong with the organ.

There were 6 verses in the original German version, of which 1,6 and 2 are traditionally sung in English.

The political situation in these two years is what makes the carol rather contemporary in its sentiment. Here’s what the Silent Night Society has to say on the subject:

“Silent Night!” was created and first performed during very difficult times. The Napoleonic Wars (1792-1815), which had caused great suffering, had come to an end. With the Congress of Vienna there were new borders and a new order set for Europe. In the course of these events, the ecclesiastical Principality of Salzburg lost its status as an independent country and was forced to secularize. In 1816, its lands were divided in two with part assigned to Bavaria and the larger portion relegated to Austria.

The site where “Silent Night!” was first performed - Oberndorf by Salzburg - had been a suburb and was now separated from its town center of Laufen located across the river (today part of Bavaria, Germany) when the Salzach River became the new border. For centuries transportation of salt along the river had provided the basis for the local economy.

The salt trade declined during the Napoleonic wars, and then never fully recovered. This caused a depression in the local economy, with the transport companies, boat builders and laborers facing unemployment and an unsure future. It was during these troubled times that Mohr was in Oberndorf (1817-1819).

Mohr’s previous place of service, Mariapfarr, had suffered greatly during the withdrawal of the Bavarian occupation troops in 1816 and 1817. Mohr was witness to these events and in 1816, he wrote the words to “Silent Night!” With this in mind, the creation of the 4th verse of “Silent Night!” takes on special meaning.

The SNS has also helpfully provided literal translations of all 6 verses as well as images of several original autographs. Their site is easy on the eyes and packed full of all the information you could ever want. Well worth a visit.

Like this? Why not try:

• Aural Advent Calender: Day 18
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 15
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 11

Jingle Bells and Deck The Halls are carol-sing basics and for good reason. They’re peppy and have words that are easy remember and are nostalgic for a time none of us where alive to remember, so there aren’t any spoilsports around to ruin the rose-coloured view. Perfect.

Here, the King’s Singers, Julie Andrews and a certain W.A. Mozart give the songs the Swingle treatment in a 1986 Christmas Special.

Rather unusually for Christmas songs, we know the exact date of birth for Jingle Bells. On 16th September 1857, American organist James Pierpont copyrighted the song ‘One Horse Open Sleigh.

According to a source no less august than the Smithsonian Magazine, Jingle Bells was the first song broadcast from space, in a Christmas-themed prank by Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra, December 16, 1965. They sent Mission Control this report:

We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, probably in polar orbit… I see a command module and eight smaller modules in front. The pilot of the command module is wearing a red suit…

The astronauts then produced a smuggled harmonica and sleighbells and broadcast a rendition of “Jingle Bells”

No such anecdotes exist for Deck The Halls despite its much larger headstart. Originally a Welsh song about New Year’s, it was circulating as a dance tune well before the 18th century. The lyrics we sing now are American in origin and, not surprisingly, are a far more sanitized version of the drinking, dancing and loving-themed text of which the Welsh were so fond.

Like this? Why not try:

• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 22
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 13
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 8

A bit of a backlog in the Calendar department these last couple of days folks. A terrible disappointment indeed, but there is a bright side, so not all is lost. What is this mysterious upside of which Miss Mussel speaks? Well, not having a door to open (as it were) yesterday or the day before, means THERE ARE THREE TO OPEN TODAY!!!! And that, ladies and gentlemen, is excitement on a scale not seen round these parts for quite some time. Whoopeee!

*ahem*

Today’s (technically yesterday’s)(but whose counting?) Advent calendar installment brings us back to England, this time in York. Although most Londoners think the world ends at the edge of the M25, the Anglican church sees things rather differently and has stationed one of the two CofE Archbishops there.

Miss Mussel attended a mind-blowingly spectacular carol service at Yorkminster in 2004. The church is enormous and on that evening was absolutely packed full of people. At least 1000…or so it seemed. The exact number of personages present is not as important as the overall effect of such a mass of voices singing together in a building of such fantastic reverb.

It is rather like hearing a live performance of Mahler’s 2nd symphony. By the end, you are literally so overwhelmed by sound it feels as if all your senses are exploding, rendering you a pile of blubbering mush incapable of articulating anything that happened in the last 60 minutes.

It may be difficult to tell for those that are not down with the Advent hymns in mainline Protestant churches but the one being sung in the video is Lo, He Come With Clouds Descending!

Lo! he comes, with clouds descending,
once for our salvation slain;
thousand thousand saints attending
swell the triumph of his train:
Alleluia! alleluia! alleluia!
Christ the Lord returns to reign.

Every eye shall now behold him,
robed in dreadful majesty;
those who set at nought and sold him,
pierced, and nailed him to the tree,
deeply wailing, deeply wailing, deeply wailing,
shall the true Messiah see.

Those dear tokens of his passion
still his dazzling body bears,
cause of endless exultation
to his ransomed worshipers;
with what rapture, with what rapture, with what rapture
gaze we on those glorious scars!

Now redemption, long expected,
see in solemn pomp appear;
all his saints, by man rejected,
now shall meet him in the air:
Alleluia! alleluia! alleluia!
See the day of God appear!

Yea, amen! let all adore thee,
high on thine eternal throne;
Savior, take the power and glory;
claim the kingdom for thine own:
Alleluia! alleluia! alleluia!
Thou shalt reign, and thou alone.

At first glance, the text seems very odd, considering its discussion of nails, scars and wailing rather than babies, virgins, evergreen boughs, presents, shepherds and items of the holly and/or jolly variety. The 1758 text, by Charles Wesley, is straight out of the Book of Revelation and is appropriate the context of Advent’s purist definition as a looking forward to Christ’s second coming. In this frame, the birth is a means to end, not the reason for the party.

This tune was not in circulation until 1868 when it was made up by John Goss, an English organist who is best remembered for the tune to Praise My Soul The King of Heaven.

Like this? Why not try:

• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 13
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 11
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 4

Like this? Why not try:

• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 23
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 22
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 21

We’re back to Jolly Old today, more specifically, St George’s Chapel, Windsor. The choir has been singing for 660 years although it is thought that its members have changed substantially during that time.

I Saw Three Ships belongs to that rather deliciously bizarre category of Christmas songs that seemed to have appeared from the ether for no particular reason. The author of the text or music is unknown as the general time of its appearance in the Christmas canon. It is quite likely that the music enjoyed a former life as a bawdy song of some sort and while the tune is catchy, the reason the uninspired text has survived this long is rather baffling.

I saw three ships come sailing in
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day;
I saw three ships come sailing in
On Christmas Day in the morning.

And what was in those ships all three,
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day?
And what was in those ships all three,
On Christmas Day in the morning?

The Virgin Mary and Christ were there,
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day;
The Virgin Mary and Christ were there,
On Christmas Day in the morning.

Pray, wither sailed those ships all three,
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day;
Pray, wither sailed those ships all three,
On Christmas Day in the morning?

O they sailed into Bethlehem,
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day;
O they sailed into Bethlehem,
On Christmas Day in the morning.

And all the bells on earth shall ring,
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day;
And all the bells on earth shall ring,
On Christmas Day in the morning.

And all the Angels in Heaven shall sing,
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day;
And all the Angels in Heaven shall sing,
On Christmas Day in the morning.

And all the souls on earth shall sing,
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day;
And all the souls on earth shall sing,
On Christmas Day in the morning.

Then let us all rejoice again,
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day;
Then let us all rejoice again,
On Christmas Day in the morning

To sum up: Three ships arrived in the harbour on Christmas morning with Jesus and Mary on board but that was just a pit stop on their way to Bethlehem. Despite the fact that Bethlehem is 80km from the sea or 14 hours walk up into the mountains the Holy Family manages to make the journey there before lunch. Everybody, even the angels, is happy to have discovered this wormhole in the space/time continuum and whoops it up.

Hey, if a fat guy in a red velvet suit can fit down Miss Mussel’s chimney, anything is possible.

Like this? Why not try:

• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 16
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 15
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 11

In honour of the tripartite birthday celebrations going on this week, today is a 3-for-1 offering of 20th century Christmas songs. Who is the third celebrant, you ask? Well, even bivalves have birthdays.

The 20th-century selections featured on this, the most thirtieth of birthdays are: Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, The Christmas Song and White Christmas complete with aspirated ‘h’ from the 1957 Christmas special called ‘Happy Holidays With Bing And Frank.’

Miss Mussel is not particularly enamoured with any of those songs as such, but it’s Frank’s day too, so it seemed appropriate.

In addition to Frank, Gustav Flaubert, Edvard Munch and Bill Nighy, Miss Mussel also shares this day with none other than Robert William Barker, who today will be achieving the much more substantial age of 85. Here he is in 1980 doing his best to avoid molestation by an ecstatic winner.

Like this? Why not try:

• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 24
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 23
• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 22

A cracking prize on offer this week, Swagfans. It’s a two disc set (one CD and one DVD) featuring James Ehnes, pianist Eduard Laurel and David Fulton’s violin and viola collection on the Onyx label. The project is a showcasing of what is widely held to be the finest fiddle collection on the planet using showpieces and other miniatures matched by Ehnes to the each instrument’s strengths.

In order to win, all you need to do is answer the following question:

What country is James Ehnes from?

Be the fourth person to send the correct answer in to quiz@theomniscientmussel.com and the discs are yours.

Here’s a sneak peek:

Like this? Why not try:

• Quiz #20: Pencils Down. That Includes You At The Back As Well.
• Quiz #20 Clue Two
• Quiz #18: Better Late Than Never

There is more swag in store this Friday, so be sure to keep your eyes glued to your feed reader. If you’re a fan of the Miss Mussel on Facebook or following her on Twitter, you’ll get notice tonight at midnight about how to win the mystery product. Everyone else will have to wait til midmorning to find out. By then, it could be too late.

No relation but still worth a look:

• Saturday Photograph
• Thursday Links
• On The Other Hand

Like this? Why not try:

• Thursday Links
• Wednesday Links
• Friday Links

Buying through the links below or on the sidebars means you get the same service you would get if you went directly to the site with the added bonus being that Miss Mussel gets a small percentage of the sale. Any income will be used to fund trips to review orchestras or summer festival concerts throughout this country.

No obnoxious Christmas music this time. If you really miss it, there are still 14 days left for you to go hang out at the mall.

DVDs: The Office, Keeping Up Appearances, Allo, Allo et al for the funny bone and for the Sir David Attenborough fan in your life: The Complete Natural History Series in HD, The Wildlife Specials, Planet Earth/Blue Planet Collectors’ Edition. And finally, for the person who has everything or has a terminal case of the nerds: the essential Doctor Who Dalek Voice Changer Helmet

You may have to put up with some zealous use of the letter u in the text but American shoppers will enjoy bargains galore at this Canadian version of Barnes and Noble. The Canadian dollar is low, plus you avoid state sales tax. Also, orders of $39 or more qualify for FREE SHIPPING and the top 50 bestsellers are 45% off.

Tis the season to be calling your relatives on the cheap. Skype can help. All of the continental USA and Canada [just in case you have to call customer support for the North Pole] is just 2¢ per minute. A quick dig down the back of the couch, and presto change-o you now have you now have enough coin to listen to Aunt Mabel detail her entire list of health problems.

All the magazines you could ever want. Even the ones that come in brown wrappers. Steep discounts and a three month trial make this gift a top ranker on the givee satisfaction v. price index. For those of you with more intellectual tastes, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Harper’s and The Atlantic are also there.

iPhones, iPods and various other Apple accoutrements.
Free shipping on orders of $50 or more plus free engraving on the back of any iPod.
Guaranteed increase in your coolness quotient by a factor of 3.

As always, your support is much appreciated.

All the best,
Miss Mussel

PS Tell all your friends. There’s no pyramid scheme/MLM marketing going here, so you’ll have to take payment in karma or similar. IT’S NOT TOO LATE TO GIVE SANTA A REASON TO CHANGE HIS MIND.

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• Aural Advent Calendar: Day 15
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For those readers who are worried all the crap holiday music they have heard oozing out of stores, restaurants and other such public places will soon cause them to lapse into some sort of hyperglycemic coma: Fear not! Miss Mussel brings you tidings of non-saccharine joy.

Today on the Calendar, we have a guest post from bloggeuse Susan Chilton who is in real life the Arts & Life Editor of The Waterloo Region Record.

“I’ve raised my children on the Grinch (original) and Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas. Christmas Town, shown here, is what we sing before bursting into Welcome Christmas, below. I’m not sure what that says about my parenting, but my kids are highly creative. And we all love Christmas. Traditional carols just don’t cut it for this crew, I fear. Happy holidays! What’s this …”

For those that haven’t seen the Burton film [Miss Mussel can't be the only one], Wikipedia has the whole plot. In the video clip above, the hero Jack Skellington accidentally finds a portal to Christmas Town and discovers people going about what we would consider normal Christmas activities. There is no Christmas in Hallowe’en Town, so he is rather confused as to why there are no goblins under the bed or scared children running around.

Since its been around for 51 years, Miss Mussel can’t imagine that a single person in North America has not seen the Grinch or is not a least vaguely aware its place in the pop culture continuum. If, by some cruel twist of fate, you don’t know what The Grinch is, go here immediately. Your quality of life depends on it.

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Is it Herman? Is it Sherman? Is it Eddie, is it Freddie? Oh no! It’s Bing Crosby and Judy Garland with a rather amusing version of Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer complete with what would now be considered wildly inappropriate references to smoking and alcohol consumption. Those were the golden days, no?

The text for the Rudolph song was created in 1939 by a Robert L. May. It was originally conceived as a the text for the annual colouring book Ward’s gave away each Christmas. That year the kids ate it up and the store succeeded in distributing 2.5 million copies of the book.

May succeeded in publishing the story as a children’s book in 1946, and distributed 6 million copies in the first year alone.

The song, written by May’s brother-in-law Johnny Marks, was recorded by Gene Autry in 1949 and has since worked its way into the public consciousness. Its popularity is no doubt due in large part to the fact that it is permissible to shout extra parts after each line. Miss Mussel seems to remember that in primary school assemblies, the “IN HIS UNDERWEAR!” response to the line “Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say,” was the most eagerly anticipated and enthusiastically shouted of the bunch.

Incidentally, I Heard The Bells on Christmas Day; Rocking Around The Christmas Tree; The Most Wonderful Day Of The Year and Have A Holly Jolly Christmas are also Marks songs.

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