Nursery songs & lullabies

Tonight Astrid got a special treat...Mommy and Daddy sang nursery songs and lullabies to her in both English and German.

I pulled out a song book that has the following famous children's songs in it (just to name a few):

1) Frere Jacques
(Did you know that in English it's "ding, dong, ding....ding, dong, ding"" but in French it's "din, din, don....din, din, don"?)
2) The Mulberry Bush
3) Mary Had a Little Lamb
4) London Bridge
5) Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
6) Hush Little Baby

Uwe heard me singing to Astrid and I guess it got his lyrical juices percolating because he joined in with children's songs from a German song book. Uwe has a very nice deep singing voice and it was a treat to hear him sing. It was also great for Astrid to hear her Daddy sing to her in German.

Although I wasn't familiar with many of the German songs, I did recognize a few (like "Oh Christmas Tree" aka "Oh Tannenbaum"). Uwe got a kick out of hearing me sing the English version of a few Christian songs like "Come All Ye Faithful." Hearing the melody jarred my memory of singing these songs as a kid in church. And there was a German song in the book about a baby bird that appears on a CD that I play daily for Astrid. I particularly enjoyed this one because I was able to sing along with the chorus.

This evening reminded me of simpler times when families would get together at night around a fire and sing songs and entertain one another. Aww...the holidays.