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So happy you found us! Merry Christmas Stephen! 🎄🎶😊

So happy you are looking forward to our next release! We have been working on a beautiful hymn arrangement with the Smith Six ( our six youngest children and piano) Was hoping to have it for Christmas but it will have to come out next year! Hope it will be worth the wait! 🙏🎄 Merry Christmas!

Aahh! The youngest rascals. ! Hmm I look forward to it! Just occurred that I said that before! Oops! 😉

And Season Greetings and a better new year to you all!

Merry Christmas to you as well! 🎄Singing together would be a Christmas miracle for sure. But we believe in miracles! 😊

To a certain degree! I do as well! I'm on the bus again! Passing through Wells and enroute to Yeovil!

Thank you so much! 🌻🎶

So grateful you enjoy our music. Thank you for your kind words, Beverly. Merry Christmas! 🎄🙏

Co-incidentally Beverly! Four years ago I started listening to this remarkable Family Choir as well! I don't think that I have ever looked back . I find myself looking forward for what they might be doing so this Christmas as well! I'm open to being delighted and surprised. ( If stunned - then I will be as well! ) Like to pick up a Christmas CD of theirs! I'd be delighted to do so! Christmas can be a busy time for me! But I am never too busy to hear what they're going to do. Looking forward to it! Can't say fairer than that!

Thank you for your comment Mike. Hope you have a wonderful day noticing God’s hand. 🙏

Happy Birthday to your dear mother! What a tribute. ❣️

Thank you so much! So glad you enjoyed their performance. There is something pure and clear about boy sopranos. 🎶

You are correct about Utah! This was actually recorded at a Presbyterian church in our area. We loved the beautiful stained glass, and the people were so kind and accommodating. Grateful you enjoyed it.

Thank you so much Mary! 🌸

Yes! Utah is a beautiful place. And the Osmonds are from this area. I was just driving close by Osmond Lane today where many of them used to live.

So true! No boy sopranos anymore although our boys still have a very high range!

Our son served for a time in Bristol in 2019-2020 when he was in England for his mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! Sounds like he was in your stomping grounds!

Yes! Our father’s mother! Very sweet lady!

​@thesmithensemble4053 I completely concur! Charming lady indeed! Oh and Season Greetings to you all!

Thank you Stephen and Merry Christmas to you! From The Smith Family!

You know? At a EPH in Bristol! Not too far from St Martin's Church in Knowle I had a go at the first verse and the Refrain of Rutter's Candlelight Carol and some residents there liked it! It was not what I was hoping to do. But at least I got to do some of it! Certainly I will be able to settle for that! EPH is Elderly Persons Home. I certainly know the second verse and if I could have a second go at it. I might get it all done.

Thank you! 🎶🌸

So fun! I bet you are sounding pretty good! Nice to have that carol going through your heart and mind! 🎶🌸

I actually have a copy of this Carol in front of me! And I have it in the English Hymnal. I decided to follow it through. And figure it out. I quite like the carol and I tend to believe and think that Sir John Stainer who composed the original carol - might have appreciated your approach to this! I certainly so do.

@stephenfarthing1522 so kind of you Stephen! Yes! A beautiful carol!

@stephenfarthing1522 Thank you for your kind words! Hope Sir John Stainer likes it. So grateful for his beautiful music. In our hymnal there are currently only two verses. We enjoyed the additional ones in this arrangement done by our friend. 🎶

Sir John Stainer was a composer in the 19th century. And born in 1841 he passed away in the first several months of the 20th century. He was a Choristers composer and his biggest claim to choral fame was Crucifixion- a compilation

It is never too late to continue to worship God and participate Charlie! We are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and so much enjoy honoring God and expressing gratitude through music. Thank you for listening and commenting! 🎶

I quite agree!

It's occurred to me- that the Choristers prayer applies

So fun that you have started listening to Christmas carols! 🎶 Christmas and family go together. I hope you feel much peace as you choose your carols and sing your hymns! Music does bring so much solace to our souls. It would be a dream to come to Great Britain and perform. We love it there! Such beautiful surroundings, people and history. We hope to meet you someday as well! Dreams can come true!

All things come of thee! Indeed, Indeed!

I was listening to this! My glasses fell off! Hmmm! You could say that I made a bit of a ' spectacle ' of myself! Oh well!

😂

​@thesmithensemble4053 I guess I successfully broke you all up! Mind you - who laughed first? 😉

I am so happy! What a great song to have singing in your head! 🎶

And appropriate for Harvest as well!

Thank you Brenda.🌸🙏

So glad your surprise worked out so well! So sorry your other planning was delayed, but it sounds like you added a beautiful part to the service. Thank you for sharing! “All things shall work together for good to them that love God.” (Romans 8:28)

Hope you enjoyed it! 🌺

Thank you! So glad you like it! 💛🎶

Thank you so much Dan! 🌺🎶

I was watching this last night and welled up. I just came back from meeting up with my dad, he has Alzhiemers and while I was was out I remember thinking he always needs someone to watch over him , a Shepard. I also thought there but for the grace of God I go. It just made me well up.

Thank you for posting these inspiring words so others can follow along. Such a beautiful song. 🎶

Nice to hear from you Stephen. So sorry to hear of the loss of your brother. Hope you find much peace and comfort through our Savior Jesus Christ. It sounds like you are doing many good things to keep your mind and heart turned towards God. Carry on!

​@thesmithensemble4053 I'm not sure but Howard Goodall did a version of Love Divine

How kind of you! Thank you! 🎶🙏🎻

Thank you Sarah! 🌸🙏

You are so welcome. So grateful for your kind words. 🎶🌸

Thank you so much David! 🎶

You are so welcome !@@thesmithensemble4053

Good idea! We could put them in the notes for now if that would be helpful.❣️

Thank you! 💛🎶

🎶🙏🎶

I hear it again! 😂😢 And I recall!

Thank you for your kind comment! So grateful you were able to enjoy your favorite hymn. It is definitely a favorite of ours as well. 🎶😊🙏

Hi Stephen, so grateful you enjoyed our rendition of The First Noel arranged by our friend, Jared Pearce. Yes. We did include some of our older grandchildren this time. We have nine now! Soon to be 11. How quickly they grow! Hopefully you can enjoy singing with the recording. 🎶We remember singing Candlelight Carol years ago with our church choir. (I may have mentioned that we are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.) You can’t go wrong with Rutter! Hope this year is full of blessings for you. 🙏Thanks for your support! -The Smith Family

@@thesmithensemble4053 The Candlelight Carol has perhaps helped me to deal with a sense of grief and bereavement. My older brother passed away almost three weeks prior to Christmas. Turned it into a somewhat bittersweet period of time for me. I actually had a part to pursue in his funeral service as well. I was taken unwell shortly before Christmas itself. I wasn't sure if I would be in my church choir for the Christmas Eve service - this time about. My brother's funeral was on the 4th of this month of January. I have recovered but I felt different. I took a few days away from Bristol immediately after the funeral service. Spent it at Wells. I spoke at my brother's funeral. Not easy to do so! But I felt I had to do so! The second verse of the Candlelight Carol featured in my words. As a Church Chorister of the Church of England - I did so! I think that you know the words of that - well! It was appropriate. Those at the service told me that I had chosen well! It's still early days for me! But going away for a few days immediately afterwards was essential to do so! It's not going to be easy to face the rest of it. Grief needs to take it's time. I intend sorting out a holiday break for later in this year. I'm exploring possibilities for that. In the meantime, I will continue to serve as a Church Chorister in St Martin's Church in Knowle in Bristol. The Chorister Prayer also figures there - as well! " Bless - O Lord, us thy servants who administer in thy temple ! What we may sing with our lips, we make believe in our hearts and what we may believe in our hearts -may we bring forth into our lives. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen" I may have gotten it slightly incorrect! But the gist of it! Continues to inspire me!

Thank you for that! Christmas last December was a little bit different for me. My older brother suffered a stroke in 2021 and was left in a depleted condition afterwards. About several weeks before I heard your version of the First Noel carol. He passed away on the 6th of December of last year. It left me in a bittersweet period over the Christmas period and indeed, I was taken unwell for a few days before the main services. Wasn't sure if I was going to rebound from that. In time. Thankfully, I did do so! But the funeral service was dated to the 4th of this month of January of this year! And I had been both dreading it and fearing it - as well! I was going to have to speak at it. I did - but it wasn't easy! I drew on my knowledge as a Church Chorister and using words from the Candlelight Carol by John Rutter - I coped.. I also went off immediately from that service to get out of Bristol for a few days. I chose to go to Wells and spent two hours on the Friday morning of the 5th January in the Cathedral. I sat in the Quire area of it for reflection. I had a lot of contemplating to do. It was about then ! I heard your " First Noel " carol. I was impressed with it. Of course, I know how traditionally it goes. It was one of these things that put it into perspective and I have always liked it! So thank you for that version. It helped.

I am starting to look at Christmas Carols and I hope that I get to do Rutter's ' Candlelight Carol ' this year - it's in the consideration pot for this year's Christmas Services at St Martin's. I know it fairly well! And I very much want to do it this year - especially with connection with the 6th December of this year! It's where I would much like to do it! And I would want to. I guess the last 8 months have been ones that has tested me! It doesn't mean that I am ignoring the other Carols- not in the slightest and I'm looking forward to one carol which I definitely enjoy the bass line of - O Little Town of Bethlehem ! That traditional carol remains a big favourite of mine at Christmas. There's a second version of it that's sung in the USA if memory serves! So I do know both versions. Two traditional Carols ' In the Bleak Midwinter ' and 'Silent Night ' were popular with Soldiers in both the Allies and German armies during WW1. Often these two Carols were sung from the front lines of trenches. Which must have produced a unique harmonising over the battlefield. Though British Soldiers would oft sing ' Silent Night' as well over the Christmas periods of 1914 and 1915. Competition by song and not by bullet, shell or bomb. Hmm! Something to think about! I'm sure that will be fascinating to you guys ! These truces at Christmas would barely last a couple of hours. I should add that both high commands put a stop to it in 1916 and 1917. And although cordial wishes were exchanged from both lines - it ended Christmas truces during wartime conditions.

So sorry about the loss of your brother. May you feel peace and comfort from our Savior Jesus Christ. 🙏🌹 Thank you for your kind words. Hope you had safe travels.

Thanks for that! I do appreciate it! Bit late for saying so.

You are so right. I apologize for my late response. I thought I had responded and realized I hadn’t. Thanks for your forgiving heart.

@@thesmithensemble4053 So sorry! I meant myself. In return of my thanks. I still appreciate it.

So kind of you. Thank you!🙏🌸

Thank you so much! So grateful you enjoyed it. We appreciate you sharing it. Merry Christmas! 🎄❣️

Thank you! 🎄🎶

Thank you Kathy! 🎄🙏🎶

Thank you for your kind comment! So grateful you enjoyed it. You are welcome. 🎄🎶

You are so kind. Thank you so much! 🙏

Thank you Christian. ❤️

Gives the first one I saw and heard - very stiff competition! Indeed!

You are so welcome. So grateful you enjoyed it! 🌻🙏

I hope you are able to learn it and sing along! Love your optimism! Amazing Grace. 🎶How sweet it is. 🙏

​@thesmithensemble4053 Guess what??? I was also almost singing it again! Heading back home!