Joy: O Come, All Ye Faithful

    I love the Christmas season.  I believe it comes from my childhood.  It started with the live tree Daddy cut and brought into the living room.  Oh!  The smell of evergreen filling the room.  The tree was placed in the corner by the fireplace.  My mother decorated the tree with lights and ornaments.  I remember the homemade ornaments and big colorful lights.  The smell of fruitcake and cookies, singing Christmas carols, having the house filled with family, and the excitement of Christmas morning.  Then, we moved to the "new house" where the tree was no longer real.  In 1961, the thing was a shiny silver tree with no lights, but a large light with circling wheel with red and green which reflected off the tree.  By then, I was playing the piano and worked at playing Christmas carols.  The smell of my mother's baking was still there and family continued to fill the house.  The excitement of Christmas morning was always there.  The shiny silver tree went and many other trees stood in front of the window in the living room and new memories were made each year.  When I married Kevin, we continued to keep the Spirit of Christmas.  A few things changed and one of those was midnight Mass on Christmas Eve.  The music and service made Christmas feel real celebrating the birth of Jesus.  My family celebrated the birth of Jesus, but I saw it differently at midnight Mass.  Of coarse, I filled our house with the smells of the season.  Ask my children about "Wassail."  Yes, I'm a geek who loves history.  I enjoyed teaching my children about the foods and customs of earlier times.  I don't think they liked the "Wassail."  Traditions, we have many.  Some old traditions have gone and new ones replaced them.  However, there are two traditions that my family still enjoy, South Carolina barbequed pork and singing Christmas music.
    On Christmas Eve and sometimes before, we would sing around the piano or in the car traveling to visit family.  My voice isn't great, but I still sing out.  In addition, we sang with the carolers from our church.  Our church started Christmas Caroling when I was in my early teens.  They still go caroling every year.  Our youth started a new one by caroling in July.  Shut-ins look forward to the arrival of the young singers.  This tradition has grown over the years where the Christmas Carolers have grown to fifty plus in number.  The blessing of hearing young and old singing out our favorite Christmas songs fills the hearts of many.  I love it!
     My love of Christmas music still shows by what I listen to in my car.  Last week, I browsed through some CDs and found a few that belonged to my Aunt Nona.  Two of her CDs are in my car and I've enjoyed singing with Bing Crosby this week.  Yes!  Bing Crosby!  He sings 'O Come, All Ye Faithful' beautifully.  In fact, one morning, I kept hitting replay back to 'O Come, All Ye Faithful.'
     This week as I sang and listened to the words of 'O Come, All Ye Faithful,' I noticed the three actions we are called to do.  First, come.  We are called to come faithfully, joyfully, and triumphantly.  Where do we go?  We go to Bethlehem where the baby was born.  We kneel at the manger and worship the Son of God, the new born king.  Just to remind you, he is not an earthly king, but heavenly king, King of our hearts and souls.  Second, sing.  Sing, "Glory to God, all glory in the highest."  This action is directed at the angels who filled the heavens on the night of Jesus' birth singing praises to God.  However, we all can sing out and worship Christ the Lord like the Christmas carolers do each year, and we can sing out everyday.  Who says we have to wait until Christmas?  Third, adore.  The third verse is not an action we are called to do, but an action we choose to do, greet.  As we come face to face with Jesus, we greet him with adoration.  The one who came in the flesh in order to give us salvation.  Yes, "let us adore Him, Christ the Lord," and find joy this Christmas season.