Christmas Top Fives: "Angels We Have Heard On High"

Last updated on: December 23, 2014 at 2:40 am By Esther O’Reilly

Christmas Top Fives is a series where I take one beloved carol and run down my personal top five versions of it. Read earlier installments here. Today, I’m covering one of my all-time favorites! I will provide links to four favorite renditions, then embed my absolute favorite here (for ease of loading on slow browsers). VeggieTales (featuring Palmy): What’s that you say? I already reviewed the album this song comes from last week, even spotlighting this particular track on it? Well,... Read more

The Grinch Critiques… Revisionist "Joy to the World"

Last updated on: December 22, 2014 at 2:01 am By Esther O’Reilly

The last carol revision that came under the Grinch’s eye involved changing ye olde-fashioned grammar to something incorrect in “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.” Today, the Grinch critiques something that makes him even grumpier: Politically correct revisionism. The carol in this case is “Joy to the World.” If you pay close attention to the second verse, you might hear the traditional lyric as penned by Isaac Watts: “Joy to the earth, the Lord is come. Let men their songs employ.” But for a number of... Read more

More Essential Tracks of Christmas: "Emmanuel/Little Town/Christmas Hymn," by Amy Grant

Last updated on: December 19, 2014 at 1:12 am By Esther O’Reilly

So last year I did this thing called “The Twelve Essential Tracks of Christmas,” and people seemed to like it, so I thought I’d add a few more every year. I can’t guarantee there won’t be fewer than or more than twelve more, hence the open-ended title. Anyway, these are more tunes without which my Christmas still really isn’t complete. They were brutally cut out of the final edit for The Twelve. So, consider this the expanded edition. This installment might be... Read more

Christmas Favorites: A Very Veggie Christmas

Last updated on: July 28, 2018 at 11:29 pm By Esther O’Reilly

I started this series to showcase some of my favorite Christmas albums, but it fell off a couple years ago. Since I have some all-time faves that I didn’t even begin to get into, I’m going to revive it this year. (Feel free to catch up with the first five I wrote, which have been neatly sorted for your reading pleasure here.) We’ll start with A Very Veggie Christmas. Yes, Bob, Larry and Co. are having a Christmas party. Unfortunately, Oscar the... Read more

My Favorite Movie of 2014: Interstellar

Last updated on: August 17, 2018 at 7:16 pm By Esther O’Reilly

“Do not go gentle into that good night; Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” — Dylan Thomas Since this film is still showing in IMAX theaters, and since it’s still my favorite film of the year, I thought it appropriate to put out my review of Christopher Nolan’s space epic Interstellar. Grappling with Big Questions about Life, the Universe and Everything, with characters I cared about, set against a kaleidoscopic backdrop... Read more

Monday Morning Humor: Meet Christmas Chaos

Last updated on: December 15, 2014 at 2:46 am By Esther O’Reilly

“This is Christmas chaos, reminding you that you COULD take a day off and relax. But then you’d be a jerk, and everyone would hate you.” (This video is brought to you courtesy of Igniter Media, whose video player is sadly un-embeddable. So take a peek here and thank yourself later.) Read more

The Grinch Critiques… Revisionist "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"

Last updated on: December 12, 2014 at 12:23 am By Esther O’Reilly

This Christmas I… uh, I mean the Grinch thought he would get a few complaints off his chest about people who mess with the lyrics of old Christmas carols. To be clear, the Grinch is not unhappy with these carols themselves. The Grinch loves Christmas carols. It’s just that the Grinch doesn’t like what some people have done with them. Sometimes there’s a not-so-subtle agenda at work, as when a lyric is truly mangled to be more politically correct (removing all references to... Read more

Finals Week: A Playlist

Last updated on: December 11, 2014 at 12:33 am By Esther O’Reilly

I got all my finals out of the way in one fell swoop this week (graph theory in the [early] morning, advanced calculus at noon, advanced linear algebra in the afternoon, yeah baby), and it sure feels good! Here are a few inspiring tunes that got me through this trying time. They’ve spoken to my heart. May they speak to yours. The Morning Of “Don’t Stop,” Fleetwood Mac *** One Down, Two to Go “Stayin’ Alive,” the Bee Gees Oh yes,... Read more

Monday Morning Humor: What About the Tree?

Last updated on: December 8, 2014 at 2:05 am By Esther O’Reilly

“What are we gonna do about the tree?” Read more

Keith Getty on Christmas Carols

Last updated on: December 2, 2014 at 2:20 am By Esther O’Reilly

Music pastors, take note! These are the real “crossover” songs of Christian music—appearing in movies, musicals, television shows, commercials, novels, and radio charts; affecting the education of countless generations; sung more frequently and knowingly and passionately in the public square than any modern song likely ever will [be sung]. […] For every 1 car that drives into your church 99 drive past—and I bet almost all love Christmas music. Read more here. Read more