Gratitude Monday: das Kindlein

One thing I’m thankful for year after year is peeling away all the crap associated with the holidays and finding the simple joys that kids can still muster up, no matter what’s going on around them. If you give them the least opportunity, they’ll find something to be happy about.

So here are a couple of Christmas carols that focus on the children, both from Germany and Austria.

I learned “Ihr Kinderlein kommet” in one of my German classes, and the harmonies have always struck me as just gorgeous. Basically, the song is inviting children to come to Bethlehem, to find another child in his manger cradle. It dates from the 18^th Century And here we have the Vienna Boys Choir singing it.

And since we’re speaking of a baby in his cradle, here’s a lullaby carol, from the Salzburg area somewhere in the 19^th Century. I like the notion of lullaby carols, seeing as to how the holiday's all about a baby and his mom. Last year I gave you several, including a Czech one, a Welsh one and a Swedish one. 

I did not know this Eva Lind chick, who’s singing "Still Still Still", but she’s an Austrian soprano, and evidently a big deal. This setting strikes me as being not dissimilar from a “Christmas with the Carpenters” kind of thing (if the Carpenters hung out in German Bierkeller), but I like the feeling of a soprano singing a lullaby, so I’m down with it, as long as I close my eyes.

P.S. I favor sopranos, so today I’m grateful for finding another one to add to my collection.