Advent Reading Challenge: Wendy Cope

December 11th

The Christmas Life by Wendy Cope (taken from The Book of Christmas edited by Fiona Waters and mentioned in a previous post). This poem was previously published in If I Don’t Know (Faber).

I have been a fan of Wendy Cope’s verse for a long time, since someone gave me a present of Serious Concerns (Faber) when I worked in a Birmingham bookshop in the 1990s.

This festive poem celebrates the zest and spirit of Christmas: the living greenery brought inside the house with its hint of spring to come; bright colours on the tree; memories both happy and sad and the hopefulness of a new beginning for all of us.

Here are the first and last verses:

All Kinds of Everything…

Bring in a tree, a young Norwegian spruce,

Bring hyacinths that rooted in the cold,

Bring winter jasmine as its buds unfold,

Bring the Christmas life into this house.

…

Bring in the shepherd boy, the ox and ass,

Bring in the stillness of an icy night,

Bring in a birth, of hope and love and light,

Bring the Christmas life into this house.

I hope that you are enjoying these Advent snippets of poetry and prose both old and fairly new. It has proved to be an enjoyable writing and reading challenge for me and I am re-discovering many old favourites along the way.

(photo: Chris Mills)

Until tomorrow…

Advent Reading Challenge: Pennies and Hats

Dec9

December 9th

Christmas is Coming – a traditional Yuletide nursery rhyme (Anonymous). This is another verse taken from the children’s collection Read Me that I mentioned previously on the Advent Calendar.

As with many old rhymes, there are several different versions. Some say ‘goose‘ instead of ‘geese’ and some have ‘Please do put’ in place of ‘Please to put’ and so on. I did a YouTube trawl and, not surprisingly many singers have recorded Christmas is Coming in its several versions (including one by John Denver and The Muppets). The clip I have posted below is not a sung rendering of the verse, but a straightforward spoken one by someone whose name is only given as Andy.

I hope it makes you feel all Christmassy inside!

Christmas is coming,

Do exactly as it says on the label…

The geese are getting fat,

Please to put a penny

In the old man’s hat.

If you haven’t got a penny,

A ha’penny will do;

If you haven’t got a ha’penny,

Then God bless you!

I hope you were joining in at the back there…

Many thanks to Andy who uploaded this video to YouTube exactly two years ago, on 9th December 2010.

Advent Reading Challenge: three ships

Dec6

6th December

I Saw Three Ships (Anonymous)

I saw three ships

This poem (which has also been set to music as a carol) features in a collection entitled Read Me: A Poem For Every Day Of The Year (10th anniversary edition) chosen by Gaby Morgan. This is a wide-ranging collection of poems guaranteed to encourage children’s enthusiasm for verse.

Here is the first verse of this old poem and as a festive treat I have also added below a clip of a recording of the carol by Blackmore’s Night (taken from Winter Carols)

Opinion differs on what the three ships represent: the Holy Trinity, Mary, Joseph and Jesus or the three wise men.

I saw three ships come sailing in,

Come sailing in, come sailing in,

I saw three ships come sailing in,

On Christmas Day in the morning.

Regular readers may recall from the interview with Paul Anthony Shortt that a song by Blackmore’s Night was an inspiration behind his novel Locked In. Thanks to Paul’s answers I have now discovered some new music!

Credits: clip uploaded to YouTube by Adiabatka on 08/06/2008 (with thanks)

illustration: Chris Mills

Advent Reading Challenge: Mincemeat

Dec4

4th December

Mincemeat, a poem by Elizabeth Gould

Elizabeth Gould’s poem is another extract from The Book of Christmas, edited by Fiona Waters, mentioned on the 2nd December and again it is about a traditional edible element of Christmas. Having said that, as consumers are only too aware it is perfectly possible to buy mince pies all the year round. I still persist in the notion that mince pies taste much nicer in December, when they are supposed (by any right minded person) to be eaten. It is also perfectly true that a mince pie is an ideal snack to leave out for Father Christmas on his big night out.

Here are a few lines to tempt your tastebuds:

Sugar and Spice…

Sing a song of mincemeat,

Currants, raisins, spice,

Apples, sugar, nutmeg,

…

Pack it all away

Tied in little jars and pots,

Until Christmas Day.

Sounds delicious…

What is your favourite festive fayre? Are you a mince pie fan?

The Book of Christmas

Advent Reading Challenge: Christmas Pudding

Dec2

2nd December

A rather rotund pudding…

Pudding Charms, a seasonal poem by Charlotte Druitt Cole

I found this poem in a children’s poetry collection The Book of Christmas, complied by Fiona Waters and illustrated by Matilda Harrison (Chrysalis Chilidren’s Books, 2004).

The Book of Christmas a was a gift to my daughter from my parents in 2007. I hadn’t come across it before, but it has become a mainstay of our Christmas reading. Fiona Waters’ book is a wonderful collection of seasonal poems and stories and Matilda Harrison’s accompanying drawings are bright and lively.

I hope to feature one or two more poems from the compilation later in the month. Food is such an important part of the festive season, particularly Christmas pudding that I thought I should give over enough space to mouth watering goodies. Just the thought of all that sugar, spice and candied peel being mixed up ready for cooking. Druitt Cole also mentions the traditional charms that go into the pudding…a little bit of magic.

Here is a snatch from Charlotte Druitt Cole’s Pudding Charms:

Currants and raisins, and sugar and spice,

Orange peel, lemon peel – everything nice

Mixed up together, and put in a pan.

…

And out of her pocket a thimble she drew,

A button of silver, a silver horse – shoe,

And, whisp’ring a charm in the pudding pan popped them,

Then flew up the chimney directly she dropped them.

Hope you like today’s food related piece – edibles will surely feature again…

(illusration Chris Mills, 2012)

Christmas on the Landing: Advent Announcement

Nov29

It can hardly have escaped anyone’s attention that we are edging ever closer to a certain celebratory time of the year, though I refuse to pay too much attention to the ‘x days shopping days left’ kind of pressure. Anyway, working in retail as I do it tends to be other people’s shopping that occupies most of my efforts during December. Christmas-itis generally strikes me at about halfway through the month and I just want to run away screaming. I generally just about manage to get around to my own purchases before the close of play on Christmas Eve.

The Book of Christmas

Bearing all of that in mind, I have decided to devote December on the Landing Book Shelves to a seasonal Literary Challenge in an attempt to induce calmness. After much prowling of the bookshelves with a thoughtfully furrowed brow, I have come up with the (possibly not very original) idea of putting a Landing related Advent Calendar/Advent Reading Challenge together. I have compiled a list of Christmas poems and episodes in fiction and plan to post a mini blog each day in Advent.

My inner child has carried me away a little so this Advent Challenge feature will be entirely composed of snippets from children’s books lurking on our shelves. I have to admit to stretching the notion of Landing Book Shelves just a tad, as some of the Yuletide goodies live in either the loft or my daughter’s bookshelves. But I hope you will overlook that minor fudge in the cause of Christmastide.

I should point out however, that you will have to improvise a little for yourselves. My technological skills are not up to creating opening virtual doors so you will simply have to pretend. Of course if you follow this blog, then opening your email will, I feel, simulate the door opening bit quite satisfactorily. Each day should bring to you a seasonal literary morsel with a suitable illustration by way of accompaniment. Well, that is the plan (and the challenge) anyway so fingers crossed that it all works out successfully.

Keep checking back during December to see what you find…(apologies in advance for the lack of chocolate in the Landing Advent Challenge Calendar).