We are now one week away from Christmas Day 2022.

Below are some of my posts on Christmas past and present.

The Octave of Christmas — O Antiphons

Centuries ago, it was usual for Christians to use the week before Christmas to contemplate our Saviour’s birth through the O Antiphons, every one of which begins with ‘O’, e.g. O Emmanuel. Below is each one, complete with commentary on the relevant Bible verse. Some days have a second O Antiphon:

The O Antiphon for December 17 (2013)

The O Antiphon for December 17 (2014)

The O Antiphon for December 18 (2013)

December 18: a second O Antiphon for this day (2014)

The O Antiphon for December 19 (2013)

December 19: a second O Antiphon for this day (2014)

The O Antiphon for December 20

The O Antiphon for December 21

The O Antiphon for December 22

December 22: another O Antiphon for this day (2014)

The O Antiphon for December 23

December 23: another O Antiphon for this day (2014)

Today, they are used less often, which is a pity, as they help prepare us for the wondrous Christmas miracle of the Christ Child.

However, the good news is that some Anglican churches feature concerts early in Advent with classical music that explores the O Antiphons.

One was held at Great St Bartholomew in the City of London on Sunday, December 4:

An Episcopal cathedral in the United States also held an O Antiphon service at the end of November 2022:

There is still some piety left in the Anglican Communion, after all.

Interestingly, an Episcopal priest discovered a card from decades ago that needed to be filled in, whereby church members going away had to attest to having received Holy Communion elsewhere on Christmas. Fascinating:

Christmas carols

Below are the stories behind some of the world’s most famous Christmas carols and some of the best renditions on video. I have included O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, as we are still in the final days of Advent. Carol of the Bells is Ukranian, by the way, particularly apposite for this year. May the good Lord bring them peace in 2013:

‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’

‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’

‘Carol of the Bells’

‘O Holy Night’

‘God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen’

‘The Holly and the Ivy’

‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’

‘Ding Dong Merrily on High’

‘I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day’ (from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s ‘Christmas Bells’)

‘Good King Wenceslas’ (for Boxing Day, St Stephen’s Day)

The next two posts discuss how Jesus and angels are portrayed in carols:

Jesus’s nature as depicted in Christmas carols

Angel imagery in Christmas carols (Dr Paul Copan on how the Bible portrays them)

Christmas traditions

The next few posts discuss Christmas traditions.

Some say the candy cane is pagan, but it has useful Christian symbols which explain our Lord’s purpose in being among us on Earth:

Candy canes: useful for a Nativity lesson in Sunday School (Christian symbolism possibly unintentional — nonetheless, providential)

Christmas gifts — a history (and a Christian defence thereof)

The Christmas tree — a history (related to Christianity)

Christmas feasting and revelry (the rehabilitation of Christmas)

Christmas cards

Also revelatory is the history of the Christmas card, which will surprise readers who have not read these posts before:

Bizarre Christmas cards from the 19th century

Louis Prang — father of the American Christmas card

The Queen’s speech

For those who miss our late Queen, below are two of her Christmas messages, one from 1957 and the other from 2020, when we were in lockdown in the midst of the pandemic:

The Queen’s Christmas messages: 2020, 1957

Her Majesty is sorely missed.

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I hope that these posts give a fuller view of Christmas, which was not always the religious feast we assume it to be. By contrast, what we assume to be secular actually has Christian symbolism behind it.