A Singular Anticipation of Christmas–Day 17

It has been a long weekend.  I won’t presume how emotionally moved everyone else has been by the events of last Friday, but for me it has at times been overwhelming.  Yesterday, when our worship leader at Church pointed out a group of our young children dancing as part of their Christmas program, and shared with us that we should all feel free to sing and dance and praise God like a child, that that’s really what worship was intended to be, tears snuck up on my eyes.  I couldn’t help but picture those young students from Connecticut dancing and singing with Jesus, yet feel the sadness of their parents to whom today I can imagine that brings little consolation.  Having our two boys sitting next to us for the service only stirred the emotions more.

So this morning I am intentionally focusing on a lighter Christmas moment. 

I don’t remember how old I was.  Probably early teens.  But that year one of the most famous Christmas songs ever – at least as far as famous goes in my lifetime – was released and it brought great joy to our Christmas Eve family gathering.

I came to enjoy our Christmas Eve gatherings with my mom’s side of the family as much as any Christmas tradition we had.  I think it was the laughter.  The closeness of family.  And maybe just a bit that my mom’s side of the family had great taste in gifts. 

But to fully understand the song I’ve picked for today, you need to know that my grandmother (my mom’s mom) lived just across the driveway from us.  Her walk home after the evening festivities was short, but that seemed to bring an added dimension to the song below, and it certainly added to our laughter.

I’m particularly grateful for the memory of all of us singing this song together, and the uncontrollable laughter we shared.

I will leave it to you to imagine how much our laughter was based on my family’s resemblance to the song below.  I am here to share a memory, not protect the innocent – or give away the guilty.