Happy Holidays!

However you choose to enjoy this time of year, IWTDI wants to wish you warmth and happiness. We've had a very busy year with lots of ups and downs. We're happy to have survived it! Mostly, we're looking forward to a little time off, and eager to come back in Late January with a renewed sense of vigor.

MEANWHILE, please enjoy this little holiday song that John and Rachel put together for you. The more or less traditional song called Coventry Carol has a very interesting history. If not for some luck and maybe a little divine intervention, this song may not have survived to this day. The short version is that back when the Vatican had outlawed English versions of the Bible, people would use "mystery plays" to tell Bible stories. This song was part of a play called "The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors" and is about how King Herod, after hearing about the birth of a new King of the Jews, sent out a decree that all male children in Bethlehem under the age of two be killed, also known as The Massacre of the Innocents. The song itself is a lament, sung by a mother about her doomed child.

Read all about it at the link below and listen by clicking on the player on the right sidebar.

http://www.lizlyle.lofgrens.org/RmOlSngs/RTOS-CoventryCarol.html

Listen, download, pass it around, enjoy it, and we'll see you soon!