What a glorious Christmas song:  “O Holy Night the stars are brightly shining!”  There we are on the darkened hillside with the shepherds.  Only the stars light up the clear night sky.  The music builds and our voices go higher to that wonderful moment of “Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices.”  And as we sing, we share the shepherds’ thrill!

I first experienced “O Holy Night” as a little girl. On Christmas Day, after the turkey had been consumed and the dishes washed, all the aunts and uncles gathered in my grandmother’s cozy living room. The highlight of the afternoon came after the last gift had been unwrapped, when the whole family gathered around the old upright piano to sing. I sat at the piano, bungling many notes but doing my best. My dad and uncles enthusiastically threw in some tenor harmony and my aunt was proud of her good strong alto. On and on we sang. When we had sung most of the familiar carols, it was time for everyone’s favorite, “O Holy Night.”   To my young ear, it could have been the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing heartily behind me.

Well, they’ve all gone on to their eternal reward now, every one of them. Somehow in the parade of years, I’ve become the grandma. But those loved ones and their voices still sing in my heart and memory. When I hear “O Holy Night” again this Christmas, their voices will be joining in.

It is indeed a truly Holy Night. “It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth.”  It is the night God’s unconditional love became flesh — for me,  for YOU.

Judy

          “O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
          It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth . . .
          Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!
          O night divine! O night when Christ was born!
          O night divine! O night, O night divine!”*

*Text Adolphe Charles Adams (1803-1856); tune Cappeau de Roquemaure