Dear Mom, It’s Christmas!

by Elouise

Conservatory at Longwood Gardens, Christmas 2005

Conservatory at Longwood Gardens, Christmas 2005

 

Conservatory at Longwood Gardens, Christmas 2005

Conservatory at Longwood Gardens, Christmas 2005

I’ve been listening to Christmas music and thinking about you these days.  Remembering what it was like to sing together as a family during the Christmas season, with you at the piano leading us.  We stood behind you, looking over your shoulder or singing from memory all the verses of what seemed like all the Christmas hymns and carols.

I was proud that we girls knew how to sing in harmony.  Sometimes two-part, sometimes three or even four parts.  You taught us to do that.  You also taught us to sing on pitch and to pay attention to the beat of the music.

Christmas is the very best time of year for sing-along music.  Is it like that where you are right now?  Are angels there?  I hope so.  No one can prove they sang in the sky or on the ground at Christmas, but I believe they did and still do.  We just don’t always recognize them.

I also think there’s a heavenly choir somewhere.  It’s composed of angels and all God’s beloved daughters and sons–and maybe the other creatures great and small who’ve gone ahead of us.  Like Rosie, Ivan and Bambi.  And all the other pets we had–parakeets, hamsters, rabbits, even the baby flying squirrels we took care of for a little while.  Right now you’re all singing along with us in your own voices:  the story of Jesus arriving as one of us earthlings.

Music is the greatest gift you ever gave me.  Even though I didn’t always relate to you easily, I could relate to music whether I was playing the piano or singing.  It seems music almost always brought me out of myself.  When I felt relaxed and free, it was like becoming part of a reality larger and more beautiful than all of us put together.

I hope you’re getting plenty of opportunities to sing with your new voice and dance with your new body!  I imagine you watching over us, and wish you were still with us, at least for a little visit every now and then.

I’ve enclosed a couple of Christmas photos from Longwood Gardens.  I remember how much you enjoyed visiting Longwood–though it wasn’t during Christmas.  Too cold!  We might get out there later this week.  If we get any good pictures, I’ll send one or two of them, too.

Love and hugs,
Elouise

© Elouise Renich Fraser, 16 December 2014
Photo credit:  DAFraser, December 2005