The one in which I'm super-blessed by Superblessed

I am the very honored recipient of the Superblessed Blog Award for Most Enjoyable Female Christian Blog (International, Non-Filipino)! Actually, I tied for the award with Shalom's Web.

Ganns of Superblessed writes: "Cindy Swanson is a great encourager who uses her gifts to testify of God's goodness, and Jan Bishop's musings on life and her faith have always served to encourage me and challenge my own faith in positive ways."

Thanks so much, Ganns...you made my day! Congratulations to the other Superblessed winners, as well.

More Christmas music stuff...

I'll admit it...some Christmas music is just awful. I hate it when people take a perfectly good Christmas carol and destroy it by making crazy, totally unwarranted changes.

However, sometimes an artist is able to put his/her flavor into the song, making it even better. I found a couple of comments I made during past Christmases about favorite Christmas music, which I now re-post:

You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch!

My very favorite version of this song is the one by Sixpence None the Richer, which we play here on 101QFL. Leigh Nash's oddly lovely and lilting voice, and almost childlike quality in the speaking parts, really lends itself perfectly to this whimsical tune.

Apparently this reviewer of the 1999 Christmas compilation album, Happy Christmas Volume Two, agrees with me: "If you buy the CD for only one song, it would have to be Sixpence None the Richer's 'You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch.' Their oddball rendition is just too much fun..." (12/17/03)

Heard Enya's version of "Silent Night"...

...on the way into work this morning, and it was eerily beautiful. It was in Gaelic, which I find strange and lovely. When I hear Irish music, something calls out to me on a deep and primitive level. Some people think there is a something deep within us that connects with the country or countries that figured prominently in our ancestry. I think there may be something to that...else why have I been inexplicably drawn to Ireland ever since I was a little girl? I have strong Irish strains on both sides of my family tree.


Enya, by the way, is the sister of Christian singer Maire (pronounced Moya)Brennan, whose voice and style is much like her sister's, but has a lot more Christian and spiritual content. I have one of her CD's, "Perfect Time," and like it very much.--(12/11/03)