Christmas Night

Christmas isn't a thing. It doesn't exist like a building, a river or a mountain. You can't open the window in February or August and see it standing there. Even if you go into one of those gaily- coloured, year-round Christmas stores, you won'tfind it. You have to wait until the sun go es down and the nights are dark and the days are cold and you beg in to feel something special inside you. You have to wait until there is a shiver of anticipation and the likelihood of snow. You begin to think of candlelight, mistletoe and evergreen boughs. Christmas is the intangible something deep inside you. Our wish is that these carols take you deep inside, warming you like a golden fire on a dark Christmas Night. -- Alan Woodland