If you accept the notion of angels, then...in my view...they are all around us: In those almost unreal fluffy clouds, as well as the gray and grimacing ones. Perhaps you will join me here, and look, see, and accept, with affection. That is what I do, every day...outside in our remarkable natural world, and inside, with those things that bring us joy and somehow represent our individual spirits. Some things from our childhood, and what we pass on to our children, and to our grandchildren, stay with us, resonate...make us smile...

Photo: c Denée Barr 2012

This feature is a joyful collaboration with vocalist, Denee Barr, who sings the Christmas carol. The words of the song are based on a traditional French carol known as Les Anges dans nos campagnes (literally, "Angels in our countryside") composed by an unknown author in Languedoc, France.

Angels

We Have

Heard

on

High...

Sweetly singing o'er the plains...

And the mountains in reply

Echoing their joyous strains!

The most memorable feature is its chorus singing this amazingly drawn out phrase: Gloria in Excelsis Deo!

(Latin for "Glory to God in the highest")

Where the sung vowel sound "o" of "Gloria" is fluidly sustained through a lengthy rising and falling melodic sequence:

Glo-o-o-o-o-O-o-o-o-o-O-o-o-o-o-O-ri-a in Ex-cel-sis De-o!

Gloria, in excelsis Deo! Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

And repeating!

Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o'er the plains,
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains.