Tasty Gloria

It's that time of year again. We can now mention the C word.  With only 4 1/2 weeks left before the holiday we are learning Carols.

Christmas Carols are full of archaic language that children often turn into words they can understand.  I'm sure I wrote a blog post this time last year about Mondegreens - or misheard lyrics in Christmas Carols but today I was thinking how many women's names are in them.  There's Olive (the other reindeer), Ruth and Grace (He rules the world with them), Dawn (we now our gay aparrel), Mary (Christmas), and Gloria.

There's an awful lot of Gloria's in Christmas Carols and despite searching my extensive knowledge of the Bible I can not recall anyone ever mentioning her before.  Is she the lost profit? The children were singing The Angel Gabriel today.  The lyrics are supposed to be about Mary receiving the news from the Angel Gabriel that she 'has a bun in the oven' (as one child told me today) but the last line of each verse confuses things slightly.  It says, "Most highly favoured lady, Gloria."  Maybe Gloria was God's first choice and she turned him down and so He had to settle for Mary instead.  The children often change the word favoured (which they don't understand) to flavoured (which they do).  So, Gloria was tasty.  I can see why Gloria's book of the Bible wasn't included.

Obviously, I am being completely silly about this (I know about Latin) but there is something about the whole Festive Season that makes me have to do this. I have to sing, "While Shepherd Washed," and "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells." and as Christmas seems to start earlier and earlier each year I just get sillier and sillier.

Women's names in Christmas Carols makes me think of my favourite joke:

Three men arrive at the Pearly Gates on Christmas Eve and St Peter says to them, "Right lads, as it's Christmas I'll only let you in if you've got something with you that represents the true spirit of Christmas."
The first  man panics a bit, pats his pockets, thinking that he has nothing except a lighter, so he pulls it out and lights it and says,  "Errm, this is a light and it errrrm represents the errrrm light that God sent into the world by errrrm giving us his son at Christmas."

"Ooo, very good," says St Peter, "you're in."

The second man has broken out into a profuse sweat.  He only has his keys.  So, in desperation, he takes them out of his pocket and as he does so he breathes a huge sigh of relief as he hears them jangle.  He shakes them loudly and says, "These keys represent the bells that ring out throughout the land on Christmas morning."

"It's a bit lame but Okay, you're in," says St Peter.

The third man is completely calm.  Instantly he pulls a pair of women's frilly panties out of his pocket and waits.

St Peter scratches his head, "I'm sorry, they are very nice knickers but I don't understand what they've got to do with Christmas."

"They're Carol's!" replies the third man smugly.