{"id":15682,"date":"2016-12-24T13:47:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-24T18:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/?p=15682"},"modified":"2016-12-24T13:47:00","modified_gmt":"2016-12-24T18:47:00","slug":"noel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/2016\/12\/noel\/","title":{"rendered":"Noel"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 id=\"hilairebelloc-no\u00eblno\u00eblno\u00eblno\u00ebl\">Hilaire Belloc &#8211; No\u00ebl! No\u00ebl! No\u00ebl! No\u00ebl!<\/h1>\n<blockquote><p>A Catholic tale have I to tell! And a Christian song have I to sing<br \/>\nWhile all the bells in Arundel ring.<\/p>\n<p>I pray good beef and I pray good beer<br \/>\nThis holy night of all the year,<br \/>\nBut I pay detestable drink for them<br \/>\nThat give no honour to Bethlehem.<\/p>\n<p>May all good fellows that here agree<br \/>\nDrink Audit Ale in heaven with me<br \/>\nAnd may all my enemies go to hell!<br \/>\nNo\u00ebl! No\u00ebl! No\u00ebl! No\u00ebl!<\/p>\n<p>May all my enemies go to hell!<br \/>\nNo\u00ebl! No\u00ebl! (Hilaire Belloc &#8211; The Four Men, 1912)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This from Belloc makes me laugh despite how much I hate the funny part.<\/p>\n<p>I much prefer Tolkein\u2019s Noel.<\/p>\n<h1 id=\"j.r.r.tolkien-noel\">J.R.R. Tolkien &#8211; Noel<\/h1>\n<blockquote><p>Grim was the world and grey last night:<br \/>\nThe moon and stars were fled,<br \/>\nThe hall was dark without song or light,<br \/>\nThe fires were fallen dead.<br \/>\nThe wind in the trees was like to the sea,<br \/>\nAnd over the mountains\u2019 teeth<br \/>\nIt whistled bitter-cold and free,<br \/>\nAs a sword leapt from its sheath.<\/p>\n<p>The lord of snows upreared his head;<br \/>\nHis mantle long and pale<br \/>\nUpon the bitter blast was spread<br \/>\nAnd hung o\u2019er hill and dale.<br \/>\nThe world was blind, the boughs were bent,<br \/>\nAll ways and paths were wild:<br \/>\nThen the veil of cloud apart was rent,<br \/>\nAnd here was born a Child.<\/p>\n<p>The ancient dome of heaven sheer<br \/>\nWas pricked with distant light;<br \/>\nA star came shining white and clear<br \/>\nAlone above the night.<br \/>\nIn the dale of dark in that hour of birth<br \/>\nOne voice on a sudden sang:<br \/>\nThen all the bells in Heaven and Earth<br \/>\nTogether at midnight rang.<\/p>\n<p>Mary sang in this world below:<br \/>\nThey heard her song arise<br \/>\nO\u2019er mist and over mountain snow<br \/>\nTo the walls of Paradise,<br \/>\nAnd the tongue of many bells was stirred<br \/>\nin Heaven\u2019s towers to ring<br \/>\nWhen the voice of mortal maid was heard,<br \/>\nThat was mother of Heaven\u2019s King.<\/p>\n<p>Glad is the world and fair this night<br \/>\nWith stars about its head,<br \/>\nAnd the hall is filled with laughter and light,<br \/>\nAnd fires are burning red.<br \/>\nThe bells of Paradise now ring<br \/>\nWith bells of Christendom,<br \/>\nAnd Gloria, Gloria we will sing<br \/>\nThat God on earth is come.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hilaire Belloc &#8211; No\u00ebl! No\u00ebl! No\u00ebl! No\u00ebl! A Catholic tale have I to tell! And a Christian song have I to sing While all the bells in Arundel ring. I&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15682"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15683,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15682\/revisions\/15683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}