Dec 13, 2007

Another Christmas

It's time for arousing the Christmas mood now. I am not Christian, but Christmas means a lot to me, largely due to my babysitter. My babysitter's family have a tradition of exchanging Christmas presents, and every Christmas I'll be allowed to stay at their house just to have the opportunity to unwrap mine at 12 midnight, and to see whether Santa Clause can really crawl down from the roof 3 stories above.
There is not one year I can't remember not celebrating Christmas, whether it be watching NTV7 at home or feasting with my babysitter. As I grew older the tradition of getting together seem to fade away, but the feeling was always there. Celebrating Christmas in Italy on 2005 allowed me the opportunity to really sample the true meaning of Christmas - getting together.
Now abroad for 2 years, I hunt for Christmas carols in hope to fill the void created by not acknowledging Christmas. To me Christmas carols convenes the mood and atmosphere most appropriately, and Josh Groban's release of the album 'Noel' this year further sparkles the mood. Of all the songs the one I like most has to be 'Petit Papa Noel'.
Herewith attached two samples, Josh's and an older version sang by Tino Rossi.

A French carol with touching lyrics. Pay attention to the voice.


Lyrics:
C'est la belle nuit de Noël
La neige étend son manteau blanc
Et les yeux levés vers le ciel
À genoux, les petits enfants
Avant de fermer les paupières
Font une dernière prière.

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.


Petit papa Noël
Quand tu descendras du ciel
Avec des jouets par milliers
N'oublie pas mon petit soulier.
Mais avant de partir
Il faudra bien te couvrir
Dehors tu vas avoir si froid
C'est un peu à cause de moi.

Little Santa Claus
When you come down from the sky
With thousands of toys
Don't forget my little stocking.
But before you leave
You should dress well
Outside you will be so cold
And it's kind of my fault.


Le marchand de sable est passé
Les enfants vont faire dodo
Et tu vas pouvoir commencer
Avec ta hotte sur le dos
Au son des cloches des églises
Ta distribution de surprises.

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.


Il me tarde que le jour se lève
Pour voir si tu m'as apporté
Tous les beaux joujoux que je vois en rêve
Et que je t'ai commandés.

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.


Et quand tu seras sur ton beau nuage
Viens d'abord sur notre maison
Je n'ai pas été tous les jours très sage
Mais j'en demande pardon.

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.


Hopes this Christmas brings peace and happiness to all deserving people. And may God forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (excerpt from Lord's Prayer).
Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noel, Feliz Navidad and Buon Natale. Hope everyone has a good one.

2 comments:

Wyatt said...

Hey, if you want Christmas carols or Christmas related songs, hit me up, i got plenty of them in my computer.
The celebration means a lot to me as well, it's the time of a year when i used to go out with my buddies to the nearest ice-cream vendors or the little McDonald's ice-cream stall in some malls, and joke about since we don't have snow there in M'sia, why not have a taste of it instead? Ahahaha....

Besides the ice-cream eating tradition of ours, we used to exchange really cheesy gifts, like last year, i received a calender, which, as my buddies claimed, for me to mark down all the important days of our "coven". hahaha....

Merry Christmas, and a Happy, great new year to you.

Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas,pal..
Time flies...