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Music Monday: Matt Redman – These Christmas Lights
For those looking for a more contemporary listen this Christmas allow me to introduce your ears to all that is Matt Redman. Matt is a 2 time Grammy award winner, worship leader and renowned singer and songwriter in the christian music circles. I mean, I am all for putting “Christ” back into Christmas… and that’s exactly what he does on his festive album, These Christmas Lights.For starters, the album is filled with a collection of original Christmas themed songs … so if you’re preconditioned to “bleugh” at the mere sound of jingle bells, this one is for you! Secondly, as I’ve mentioned Matt is a really top songwriter and as a double score, he features the vocal prowess of Chris Tomlin, Natasha Bedingfield and the great Tasha Cobbs, on this album.
Some of my favorite picks include the duet with Bedingfield. I mean, the lady has a set of pipes on her! Cobbs also does her fair share of vocal wowing, on the duet ‘Glory to you in the highest‘, where she totally does justice to an amazing song that is kinda like a reprise of the traditional Christmas tune, ‘Hark the Herald angels‘.
Matt is a story teller. He has been gifted with the amazing ability to paint pictures, with words and music and I love that he has taken something that is often completed and utterly pulverized (I’m talking about Christmas, yo) and reinvented the way it’s told, in a way that is more personal and intimate.
There’s a whole lot more that I can say about this one… and I did, over here at Gateway News. You can check out the complete review there.
Win your own set of Christmas albums!But wait… there’s more! Remember I said that I’m giving away a collection Christmas-themed albums to one of you (thanks to Christian Art Media)? Well, that’s definitely still happening! Whoot whooot! I’ve changed the entry mechanism, to give everyone more of a chance. Simply complete the rafflecopter below! Giveaway closes on Tuesday, December 19th!
Find the rest of the reviews here:
Lauren Daigle – Behold -
Music Monday: Top 25 Christmas Hymns compilation
I love me some Christmas music. And I’m not entirely fussy when it comes to who is doing the singing (or instrument playing), as long as it’s done with excellence. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I do have my favorites. But also, I’m okay with just about any version of ‘Hark the herald angels sing’, yo! Which is why I’m so excited to tell you guys about this week’s Christmas music review, Maranatha Music’s Top 25 Christmas Hymns 2-CD set. What’s better than a Christmas album? A Christmas compilation album, duh!Christian Art Media sent me a bunch of fantastic Christmas albums to tell you guys about, but I think this one right here got me the most excited. I love that there are 25 whole festive-inspired songs for us to put on loop, during the ‘most wonderful time of the year’! At first I was like, huh, are there really that many Christmas-related songs?! Well yes, yes there are. Besides for the usuals, I was introduced to a bunch of treasures (some of them probably older than I am) that you probably won’t find on your latest pop sensations Christmas release.
My favorites are here too though. You know the faves, ‘Joy to the world’, ‘O holy night’, ‘Silent night’ and the classic ‘The first noel’. For the full review check out my article on Gateway News.
Win your own set of Christmas albums!Ahhh, I love Christmas! Do you love Christmas too? Well then, you should totally enter my Christmas music giveaway! Every Monday I review a Christmas album, and I add some of my faves to a special Christmas music hamper, which I will be giving away to one of you!
I’ve changed the entry mechanism, to give everyone more of a chance. Simply complete the rafflecopter below! Giveaway closes on Tuesday, December 19th!
Find the rest of the reviews here:
Lauren Daigle – BeholdMatt Redman – These Christmas lights
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Music Monday: Lauren Daigle – Behold
Family and work colleagues know that November brings with it my most favorite selection of Christmas anthems. I love Christmas music, yo! It’s who I am! Love me for me! I will be reviewing some of the latest Christmas albums every ‘Music Monday’ from now until Christmas and, thanks to Christian Art Media, we will also be giving away a hamper of Christmas albums to one lucky reader! Today we check out Lauren Daigles Christmas offering titled ‘Behold‘.Lauren Daigle is a popular (newly discovered) Christian music singer/worship leader. Her voice has an amazing husky undertone and she has a really cool swagger about her. Now if you’re like me, and you love Christmas, then you would know that I aint playing when I say that Lauren Daigle knows what she is doing! Looking at her Christmas album’s track list, I thought that this would be a normal “tra la laaaa” Christmas album. But nay! The quirky New Orleans songstress has taken all our favorite Christmas classics and made them – no jokes – better!
For starters, from the get go, you pick up a jazzy/bluesy element to the whole album. I love that she has stuck to her New Orleans roots, which means lots of horns, lots of jazz piano and lots of husky, soulful vocal. Guys, Jingle Bells will never be the same again. She’s added a special jive to it, complete with horns and attitude.
If you love the American classics (you know, where they sing about snow and “Santa”) then you’ll love her version of White Christmas and Christmas Time Is Here. Yoh, the girl can sang! I love her rich vocal. She also does justice to the more popular Christmas carols, such as Oh Holy Night and Silent Night. I found them to be a sweet reminder of why we celebrate Christmas and baby Jesus. Both are kept sweet and simple, with an array of instruments beautifully complementing her voice as she drifts in and out of the familiar melodies that we have grown accustomed to hearing over this special time of the year.
Fans of Norah Jones and Michael Buble, you’ll love Lauren Daigle. In fact, dare I be so bold as to say that Daigle’s vocal has a lot more character than Bubles?! Gasp! But yes, it’s the truth. Looking for an easy listen this Christmas album? This one’s for you! You can read my full review on Gateway News.
I haven’t gotten Christmas Crazy at home yet, but give me a week or two to get my ish together. This year we plan to make our own decorations and I definitely want to do a tree decorating party/ceremony. I mean, what’s the point in having a small army of children, if you can’t make them do embarassingly mushy Christmas related activity?! What do you have planned for tree decor this year?
Win a collection of Christmas albums!Guys, guess what, I’m giving away a special Christmas music hamper to one of you special Christmas crazy readers!
I’ve changed the entry mechanism, to give everyone more of a chance. Simply complete the rafflecopter below! Giveaway closes on Tuesday, December 19th!
Find the rest of the reviews here:
Crowder – Oh For JoyTop 25 Christmas Hymns compilation
Matt Redman – These Christmas Lights
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“Christmas Crazy” has officially started!
So it’s November 1st and I’m over here trying hard to contain my inner jingle. In case you didn’t know, I really love Christmas and December, like, a lot! Let’s just say, when I jingle bells, I jingle all the way! (Thank you for your polite laughter) I’m not kidding though. My spirit animal is probably a reindeer. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, yo! I love everything about it. I love the gift wrapping and tree decorating. I love the horribly delightful, B-grade Christmas movies and eating trifle at 11pm after taking a late night swim. I’m ready for it. Are you? It’s time to get Christmas crazy! And to celebrate, I want to rub some of my festive off on you. No, it does not have a smell, I promise. But it does feel reaaaally good!
My Spreadsheet Brain and I have the following Christmas related content coming to a blog post near you:Music Monday
Remember how much I love Christmas music? Well, I will be sharing all the latest Christmas albums with you guys every Monday. And, thanks to Christian Art Media, we give away a bumper pack of Christmas albums to one lucky winner, at the end of the series! Check out our Music Monday posts, as of next week, to enter!Gift ideas and fun activities
Guys I’ve also spotted some really cool Christmas activities that I’d like to try out with the fam. Look, we all know that I have a lot of children. As the lazy holidays draws near, I’ll be hard pressed to find things to do that does not require me to rob a bank. Don’t worry, I’ll keep you in the know. I also have a bunch of really fantastic Christmas gift ideas to share with you guys! I mean, I really suck at choosing gifts for other people. I’ve begun to check out different gift ideas for the kids, my hubby and hey, for myself too. I mean, opening presents is like, my thing. Unwrapping presents comes second only to winning stuff. I like to win stuff. And I know that you like to win stuff too. So how about I run a couple of giveaways that would allow you to win some awesome Christmas gifts for you and your loved ones? Deal!Thankful Thursday
As you all know, I really value my relationship with God. Even though the glits and glamor of the festive season puts me on a natural high, I’m also all about celebrating baby Jesus. His birth and death is, after all, the foundation of my faith. I am so thankful for grace! Because of this, and to keep the main things main, I will be reviewing selected faith-inspired books from Christian Art Media, every Thursday. And yep, you guessed it, we will be gifting someone with a bumper pack of books at the end of this series too.Are you guys as excited as I am? Aaaack! What do you have planned for the festive season? Our tree goes up in two weeks time and I could not be more thrilled. Clearly.
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How to do an easy peasy glitter mani in 10 minutes
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Well, it’s BEEN looking like Christmas. Just ask the malls. But I thought “hey, let’s take this Christmas feeling to my nails!” And in about 10 minutes, I did a super duper easy peasy glitter mani that was so easy to do, I feel like it might not even deserve this blog post. But it does. It definitely does! -
How to DIY festive nail art with Essence {And a major giveaway for you!}
So it’s a couple of days before Christmas and everyone’s feeling pretty merry ’round about these parts. I decided to get you guys in on the action too with this really easy DIY festive nail art tut. Oh and while you’re at it, you should totally enter the most amazing Essence giveaway the world has ever seen! (I may be exaggerating a tad bit). -
More festive nail art inspired by Christmas and Essence
I’m going to be honest (because It’s my blog and I can if I want to), my brain has morphed into a big ball of mush recently. So much so, that when I thought “ooh festive nail art!” it was immediately replaced with thoughts of “but nap rather” and “does cooked pasta go bad after 3 days?” But festive nail art I must! So I pioneered on, for the sake of the world and my readers and most definitely my atrocious looking nails. Fortunately, Essence was there to help! -
Find your festive with Aztec inspired Christmas nail art
The other day I broke out one of the newest Essence polishes – #73 More than a feeling – because I was in the mood for some Aztec inspired Christmas nail art. Well, to be honest, I desperately needed to feel Christmasey. With my fast growing baby in my belly, and the extreme exhaustion that goes with it, I really needed to get into that Christmas spirit… and quickly! The new Essence range update is totally legit and #73 is easily one of my favorite additions. This paint is a deep, berry red, and it looks phenomenal on my nails and on my toetsies. Hello, Summer sandals! -
Stikbot unlocks your kids movie making skills!
It takes a lot to impress my teenage son. I mean, everything is “boring” now a days, well according to him anyways. So I was quite chuffed to see his excitement when he learnt about Prima Toy’s newest sensation: #Stikbot!Stikbot is the world’s first social media sharing toy. By using the Stikbot figurines, you are able to bring your imagination to life, by creating stop motion videos. And this, dear readers, is what my kid is so pumped up about. He loves creating mini movies with his cellphone and fancies himself quite the film maker!
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Going Christmas Crazy with our favorite PE brands
In case you haven’t noticed, I love Christmas. And with loving Christmas comes the huge responsibility of loving presents too. (Responsibility on Hubstopher, I mean). If you love PE brands and you’re a big Christmas gift giver and receiver, you’ll love some of the funky and enduring gift ideas made by the hands of our very own Nelson Mandela Bay residents!
