What exactly is a "carol"? Well, I had to look it up to see. Evidently, a carol is a festive song. There you have it. I have been thinking about Christmas carols lately, because I have really missed hearing them this year. I have many Christmas cds, but they are packed away in storage with all of the rest of our worldly goods that we didn't know we could live without, until we actually had to test that theory.
So, aside from a couple of trips to the grocery story, and the church choir Sunday morning, I have not been inundated with the sounds of Christmas as was the case when I worked retail for many years. Yet I don't think I ever really minded hearing those songs played over and over. In fact, I have been thinking back on my childhood, and I remember the first time I ever really "felt" God's presence. I was snuggled up with my sister and a Christmas song book. She was singing the carols and I was trying to sing along. I remember reading the words and finding my heart in awe of what they said. I especially recall feeling a huge lump in my throat while trying to sing "Away In A Manger" and "The Little Drummer Boy". Even so long ago before I knew Him, I was greatly aware of the mystery of this Christ child.
All of these memories come flooding back to me as I reflect this carol-less year. This is not the first Christmas that has been unfamiliar. It seems the past few years have found us either moving, or on the move during the holidays. It has made me very aware of how much of my Christmases past were spent in a frenzy, totally focused on things that I realize now had very little importance. And yet I have an ache in my heart, a longing for the familiar things that brought me joy for so many years. An ornament one of the boys made, the house decorated with lights and boughs, the joys of filling stockings with little things I hoped would please. I am now constantly faced with change, and even though change can be exciting, at times it can feel like a cruel companion. I think Christmas is one of those times.
What is the point of Christmas Carols? And why do we love them so? A Christmas Carol is a festive song about a Birthday. They are songs written to celebrate and acknowledge the most important Birthday of all. The First Noel....."noel" comes from the Latin word natalis meaning "birth". That is why Carols put a lump in our throats and bring tears to our eyes, and create wonder in our hearts. That is why singing and hearing them makes us feel so warm and fuzzy! Don't we love that part of any Birthday party....the moment when we honor the birthday boy or girl with a song?
So sing, my friends! Sing with abandon. Sing while you're shopping, sing loudly in your cars, sing while you bake, sing while you wrap.....sing, sing, sing!!! I have a song in my heart, a Christmas Carol, a true Noel. And while I may not be surrounded by the familiar lights and sounds, Christmas lives on....in me.
May each of our lives be a "festive song", a celebration of His birth in us!! "Unto us a child is born.....unto us a son is given..."
