A Joyful Cacophony

This post demonstrates two very opposite truths of Christian family life:  1) the great joy of seeing children practicing their reading skills by singing familiar hymns from the hymnal; and 2) the chagrin at seeing something that littles learn from bigs, which is not always the kind of thing a mother wishes her children would learn in association with a well-loved hymn.

Christmas Angel Choir from Gerard David's Nativity

The well loved hymn:
Joy to the World

The setting: 
Our living room. 

Stella singing a little bit ahead, since she is a faster reader. 
Donna slowly sounding out the words based on her rudimentary reading skills and familiarity with the hymn. 
Inge, flying in from the kitchen about half-way through, with her own little addition to the choir.

Reader beware:  Cacophony ensued which I will try to capture in the written word.  You must imagine much simultaneous singing of a variety of words.

Stella:  Joy to the world, the Lord is come.  Let earth, receive her King.  Let every heart, ...
Donna joins at about this time, still keeping time, since the first verse is mostly familiar:  Joy  to the world, the Lord is come.  Let earth, receive her King.  Let every heart, ...

A little further on, it sounded somewhat like this:

Stella:  Joy to the earth
Donna: Let every heart
Stella: The Savior reigns
Donna: Prepare Him room
Stella: Let men their songs employ
Donna: And heaven and nature sing

But at some point in this somewhat disarrayed, but still lovely chorus, Inge came flying in, joining at the top of her lungs, singing with great zeal to compete with the other strains:

Joy to the world, my bus driver's dead.  We barbecued his head.

Ms Frizzle and Lizzie, from the Magic Schoolbus