The Tenth Carol Before Christmas

         "These days children have their TVs and video games," she said with a dismissive tone, "but back when I was young we used to play games together. We would get together with all the children in the neighborhood and go down to the brook together..." she sighed, "we used to do things together."
   As I listened to dear Mrs. R. reminisce, I realized that her complaint was precisely why I like Christmas so much. We've done a good job in this tech age of ours to provide people with solitary entertainment. People can amuse themselves to death without ever setting foot outside their doorstep, or actually speaking with another individual.
     Around the festive season, however, things tend to change a bit for most people. More parties are thrown, families gather together, special events are held, and at what other time of the year do people get together to sing from door to door? Certainly not in the bleak month of February!
     I love the fact that the Christmas season is one of the busiest for us musicians. I get to spend more time making music with and for people than at any other time of the year. That, if nothing else is something to celebrate. And, I believe, it encapsulates what Jesus came to do on that still, silent night. To mend the broken, to sing to the sorrowing, to gather the scattered.
     That, for me, is the heart of Christmas. Two weeks ago, as I sang in a glorious Christmas concert, I felt as though my heart would burst from sheer happiness. It's in those moments that I know for sure that music is my calling and Christ's birth has given me something to make music about.
     So, whatever you're doing this Christmas...whether it's spending time with boring relatives, answering the same questions from your matchmaking aunt about why you're still single, hearing silent night for the one-hundredth time that day, rejoice in it, that you're making memories with real people and impacting real lives. We were meant to live our lives in community and Christmas is the one time where that prying relative of yours actually makes an effort to come see you, so take heart. All is not commercialism and an over-materialized manifestation of spoiled American culture. There's still some merriment, some love, some genuine community to be found, if you can manage to sweep aside the gaudy facade and love the individual.

    That all sounded really cheesy, I know, but hopefully it amounted to some degree of practical rationality. I leave you with an old medieval song from the wassailing days of England which speaks more to the general aspect of the season rather than Christmas itself. As you listen to this jolly old song, rejoice and thank God for community. It's a precious gift not to be taken lightly.

See you tomorrow, and have a lovely Sunday evening!

    ~ Christianna