beanside | Then at least I bring you hope...

So, in the realm of Christmas songs, being that I'm pagan, I don't have many favorites. But there are two that I love, from some widely different sources. The first is by a Christian group (funny, huh?) called Point of Grace. It's off of Jim Brickman's Christmas album, "The Gift." They did a little song called "Hope is Born Again," which I've found is easily adapted to the pagan point of view as it is Christian.

But my all time favorite is from an old movie that almost no one remembers, much less likes. It's from the Robin Williams movie Toys, and it's in the movie at the very end.

This time of year is never the best for me. Be it holiday blues, or missing family and friends who are gone, or whatever, I always find it a time of joy and sorrow mixed. This is the only song I've ever found that speaks to me, to my experiences.

CLOSING OF THE YEAR

If I cannot bring you comfort
Then at least I bring you hope
For nothing is more precious
Than the time we have, and so

We all must learn from small misfortune
Count the blessings that are real
Let the Bells ring out for Christmas
At the closing of the year

Let the Bells Ring out for Christmas
At the closing of the year

(Children's choir - Bridge)
Up on the knees of a Sergeant Major
Ride through the woods with the wind in your hair
Silver bells on a stolen reindeer
As they race to the castle over there

(If I cannot bring you comfort)
(then at least I bring you hope)

Now all the winter bells are ringing
Hear them echo through the snow
And the children's voices singing
On the streets so far below

This is a time to be together
And the truth is somewhere here
within our love of people
At the closing of the year

(Second brige, sung by Seal)
We'll walk in the sun
With all of the faith
And all of the patience
All of the way
With all of us right
And all of us saying
"No one an island"
We'll fly in the arms of time
Walk in the waves, never fall
Don't fall...

(at the closing of the year...)

(Seal)

At the closing of the year

(If I cannot bring you comfort, then at least I bring you hope)

Then at least I bring you hope...

Happy holidays, whichever you celebrate, and may the warmth of friends and family fill your hearts and life for the season, and the coming year.