Last Post of the Year of Our Lord, 2020

 Last Post of the Year I Guess

- Hi there. This is Irene (duh). Mean old Anna never writes for us. I hope you have all had a Merry Christmas, and aren't forgetting to celebrate *all* twelve days of Christmas. That's what we always do :D I don't have a particular movie or book or song to review, but I did want to end the year with a blog post, so I decided to write up on a few different things that I and my family have enjoyed in the past month. Enjoy!

Storm Warning (1951)
Thiiiiiiis movie. It is far too dark to watch during Christmas time, but watch it my sisters, mother, and I did. It is a great movie about a woman who comes to visit her sister in a small town and finds herself being a witness to a Ku Klux Klan murder. Super exciting! It stars Ginger Rogers in an impressive dramatic role (she was a really good actress, as well as being a fabulous tap dancer), and Ronald Reagan in my favorite movie of his. He's so cool. He walks into the room and everybody knows he's epic. Oozes charisma, this one does. And he was our president too! How cool. I will warn everyone that I would rate this movie PG-13. It contains some extremely intense and non-child-appropriate scenes.

High Germany, sung by Martin Carthy, feat. Dave Swarbrick.
*cries a little thinking of it* I was listening to a old folksong playlist, and this one came up. Really hit me in the feels. It's about a girl's True Love fighting in what I'm pretty sure is World War I. Tis a beautiful song. Lovely guitar, and I really like Martin Carthy's voice.

Kinder Schokolade.
Sighhhhh. This is a brand of chocolate. As you might've noticed from the name, it's a German brand. Our German grandparents always send us some for Christmas. It is one of the greatest Christmas blessings experienced by this family. Kinder Schokolade means 'children's chocolate', but don't worry, we won't judge if you eat it and you're not a kid. It's soooo good. I love German chocolate.

Singing Christmas Carols after Liturgy on Christmas Eve.
On Christmas Eve, we generally start singing Christmas carols thirty minutes before Divine Liturgy, but for some reason, there were no carols before Liturgy this year. I was a little worried, and asked the lady who cantors with me if she didn't mind singing a couple carols after Liturgy. She didn't, and we ended up singing almost every carol in the book! Also, the lady I was singing with is a voice teacher and her husband can sing bass harmony, and I can sing melody or harmony, so we sounded pretty darn epic. Like, Angels We Have Heard On High was magnificent. Anyway, it was really fun, and very Christmas-spirit rousing!

                                                                          

Alexander Schmorell: Saint of the German Resistance by Elena Perekrestrov
You're probably asking: Will this lady ever stop talking about Alexander Schmorell?
The answer is no. I haven't finished this book yet. I received it as a gift for St. Nicholas day, but there was some confusion with who's shoes were who's, so we thought the book was Anna's gift, and so she read it first. Don't worry about Anna though. I may have the book about Alexander Schmorell, but she has a book by C.S. Lewis, so it's almost fair. Anyway, it is a very good book so far, super historical, but not boring. It's focused on Alexander, but it has content surrounding the other members of the White Rose as well. I recommend it to anyone. I read a great deal of it when I was feeling extremely sick on Christmas afternoon. Lame, I know, but the book was good!

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Man, this movie is the definition of heartwarming. Directed by Ernst Lubtisch, The Shop Around the Corner stars James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan in a really cute, romantic, comedic drama. It is set around Christmas time, and so it was perfect that Anna and I watched it a couple nights ago. It is entertaining the whole way through, and is quite witty. It also has a very good plot, considering it's marketed as a romantic comedy. I recommend it to anyone who wants to enjoy a cozy film on a cold night.

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That's all for the year, I guess. This coming year will probably be worse than 2020 in terms of personal freedoms being snatched away, so there's a happy thought. Really, I need to stop being a pessimist. Even if we are forced to go to church in secret and start an underground railroad, it will be with God watching over us and it will be exciting as heck. Silver lining guys, silver lining. I bid you all a Merry Christmas and a very happy and blessed New Year!!!!!

~ Anna and Irene

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light;

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mine

For those that here we see no more;

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless coldness of the time;

Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be.

~ Alfred Tennyson