If Thou Art Merry, If Thou art Sorrowful

Phew. The holiday season is winding down. This year I've spent some time thinking on the extra stories we tell around Christmas. I love holiday specials. I got to watch both the classic movie "It's a Wonderful Life" and the stage musical that was based on it. (No man is a failure who has friends). I got to watch Rudolph (Let's be independent together,) A Charlie Brown Christmas (I guess I just don't understand Christmas,) and The Grinch (maybe his heart grew 10 times that day). But my mind kept wandering back to the story of The Little Drummer Boy (not necessarily the cartoon, but the song). 

At the DSU Piano Christmas Brunch my organ teacher made a comment that may have triggered my ponderings. He said, "If the spirit isn't present during a Sacrament meeting, blame the organist." That's some pretty heavy responsibility to lay on the shoulders of an organist, but I understood what he meant. He meant that before the congregation arrives, the organist is there. And if the organist doesn't prayerfully and meaningfully lay an offering upon the alter, it is that much more difficult for any individual to do so once the buzz of the congregation fills the chapel.

Every Christmas eve, my children gather and sing and play. This is their gift for me. Each time I play at church, this is my offering to my Heavenly Father. Each time I sing with the choir, this is my praise to Him. Music is the most interactive form of worship I know and like the Little Drummer Boy its all I have to give.


This year Macey hooked the family up with an opportunity to play prelude before a Lutheran Christmas Eve Mass.



What a great excuse for us to practice as a family


What a great opportunity for us to sing praises to our King!