Do you prefer secular or religious Christmas music?
I like a nice mixture of both. There really is no "prefer" about it, I like it all!
Do you have a favourite carol? What is it?
I love
Adeste Fideles, it's one of my favourites to sing in church. But I also like the English version
Oh Come All Ye Faithful. It's the version that's most often sung, and I belt out the descant with gusto (I have no shame!). I've also fallen head over heels for
this version of Oh Holy Night. It's never been one of my favourite hymns before, but this version is just absolutely beautiful.
Have you decorated for Christmas yet?
Not yet. I'm planning on doing it tonight, but I'm so tired that I don't know if I have the energy. I think decorating the tree is fun as a group activity (like last year when my sister's were visiting and helped me), but when it's just me doing it on my own, I sometimes wish I had a magic wand to be able to do it in an instant, so that I could get down to the more important activity of admiring my decorated tree! I love sitting in my living room with no lights other than my Christmas tree.
Remember the days of the WD Christmas gift swap?
Yes I do. It was a lovely idea, but I was usually pretty unimaginative I'm afraid.
Is it odd that even though I am not a Christian this is my favourite time of year?
It's not odd at all, I don't think there's anything wrong with non-Christian's celebrating the secular aspect of Christmas. What does get me though is when people start calling for the Christian aspect of Christmas to be removed completely and focus solely on the secular aspect. If they want to do that personally that's fine, I want to reiterate that I have absolutely no problem with that, but it is a Christian celebration whether they like it or not. (And yes, I know elements of it have been appropriated from Paganism, etc, before anyone pipes up with that, but Christmas itself is Christian celebration.)
Sorry, I didn't mean to go off on a rant there, but it's something that piques my annoyance. But it absolutely was not directed at you, it was at the faceless few who write into newspapers, etc.
*Takes a cup of eggnog*
Mince pie, anyone?
. 