It’s a busy Christmas for the Szeto family. We’ve either had guests over or been guests elsewhere (or had other events to attend) for 6 evenings in a row. And for the next 4 days I’ll be at a retreat.

One of the new things we tried this year was to host an evening of Messiah Sing, in which friends and family came over to sing through selected passages of Handel’s Messiah, accompanied by live piano.

It was actually pretty fun to participate in, but I think to anyone listening it would have been pure torture. As mostly amateurs (with rusty sight-singing), we were all over the place and constantly getting lost. Never have the lyrics “all we like sheep have gone astray… have gone astray, have gone astray, gone astray” been more meaningfully sung. The neighbors probably thought we were slaughtering the Christmas goose. (Christmas goose? Who really has a Christmas goose these days?! With what foreign holiday lore hath I been so indoctrinated?)

Anyways, Handel was probably turning in his grave. Our rendition of his masterpiece would more appropriately be titled Handel’s Mess: Aiyah!!

Have a safe and blessed Christmas!