Intergenerational service presented by the kids:

(235) "Deck the Halls" is a traditional Yuletide and New Years' carol. The melody is Welsh and belongs to a winter carol, Nos Galan. The first English version appeared in The Franklin Square Song Collection, edited by J.P.McCaskey in 1881. Apparently, the author of the lyrics is unknown and may be American in origin!

(244) "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" is a poem and Christmas carol written by Edmund Sears, pastor of the Unitarian Church in Weston, Massachusetts. It first appeared on December 29, 1849 in the Christian Register in Boston. Sears is said to have written these words at the request of his friend, W. P. Lunt, a minister in Quincy, Massachusetts. In 1850 Richard Storrs Willis, a composer who trained under Felix Mendelssohn, wrote the melody!

"We Wish You a Merry Christmas" is a sixteenth-century English carol, composer and author apparently unknown. The origin of this Christmas carol lies in the English tradition where wealthy people of the community gave Christmas treats to the carolers on Christmas eve. It is one of the few traditional holiday carols that makes mention of the New Year celebration.

Accompanists: Gretchen and kids