Music in The Air

I had a friend who worked retail one December.  She would come home in the afternoon and find hard rock on the radio.  Music is the sound of the season, yet it is more than the playlist of a shopping mall.  How can I stay focused on either Christ’s birth or purchase when Chestnuts Roasting or 12 Days of Christmas is coming around for the umpteenth time. I have never roasted chestnuts on either an open fire or a skillet.  12 Days  is sung by me when I need a motion song to entertain wiggly children.

These affirm the time for me.  Truly I enjoy children’s programs.  In spite of nose rubbing and pulling at robes and waving at parents, their smiles and delight in what they are doing pulls me into joy. The songs flow.  Something akin to Jolly Old Sant Nicholas may start the program.  At an appropriate point they warble Away in the Manger, hopefully pitched high enough that they don’t hit the cellar midway through. I feel disappointed if they don’t end with We Wish you a Merry Christmas.  Because of their enthusiasm, the words come out, “We Swish you a Merry Christmas”  with a toss of their heads to be emphatic.

For quiet background, I have some carols I can rest in.  You make your own list and can check mine on the ever ready net.  Years ago I was introduced to Alfred But’s carols which he wrote for his family and friends each year.  If I am busy, I am drawn to We Dress the House with Holly Bright”  staying rushed until the last verse, “and ye who would the Christ Child greet, your heart also adorn.” Some special ones remind me of the rusticness of the manger like No Golden Carriage.   Mighty ones invigorate me like Mary Had a Baby moving through the list of names until a soprano clearly says, “My Lord” and it drifts out before it dies away.

At Christmas Eve services, songs need to involve a robust congregation and a capable choir.  Processions to O, Come All You Faithful make a good start.  Somewhere in the middle For Unto us A Child is Born focuses me on this night.  Candles and quiet harmony everyone seems to know in the iconic Silent Night lead toward the day after the night.  Luke 5:13 is translated “saying.” Heretic or not, I want a multitude of singing heavenly host.  At the grand finale, that is what happens when all fall down before the Child who becomes the Lamb.

and they sang a new song.  Revelation 5:9