Sunday, December 26, 2010

Hark, those herald angels do sing!

When Thomas was little, Shane's mom gave me a set of Christmas picture books. One of them had the words to Hark the Herald Angel's sing with pictures.  I read this to him over and over and over, and then started to sing it to him over and over and over.  It was the first Christmas hymn to which I knew all the words.  Later on, I started to sing O Holy Night to him.  In fact, when he was 2, I took him to Walmart with me and a lady heard him singing Hark the Herald Angels Sing.  She told me how nice it was to hear a little kid singing a Christmas song other than Rudolph.

It made me feel awesome.

Anyway, whenever I sing Christmas songs to my kids, I include both of these songs.  They are my very favorites, and both my kids know all the words (at least to the first verse; not so much the second.)  Today in church, the last song was (wouldn't you know it?) Hark the Herald Angels Sing.  I have been waiting for it all month long.  To my joy, as the organist played the intro, Ben started belting out the words.  I didn't shush him, as I was hoping he would continue to sing when the song really started. 

I found myself singing this beautiful Christmas hymn with my boys.  They were both singing unabashedly for the entire song.  And even though Ben couldn't read the words to the second verse, he watched us sing and tried to follow along.  When the last line came, we sang together again: Hark the herald angels sing/glory to the newborn king.

It was wonderful and filled my heart with such happiness.  It helped me heal a little from yesterday's outburst.  It was a tiny tender mercy that was much needed.  We will never be much of a choir, and it certainly wasn't a very nice sound, but it made me feel so full of joy and hope.

Glory to the newborn king indeed. 

2 comments:

Lucy said...

I think you're right. I think the Christmas carols about Christ are just as enjoyable as the ones about Frosty and Santa. We love Angels We Have Heard on High around here and I have a special place in my heart for O Come All Ye Faithful. I can just picture Ben singing along:)

Amy Sorensen said...

The new Christmas CD I bought this year has only carols on it. I've been listening non-stop to it and it really has changed my perspective and kept me more focused.

I'm SO glad you had this tender mercy. We sung carols at church too, and I was so glad.