Christmas Carols

"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..." Has anyone looked at a calendar lately? It's already December 7th! We've only got 2 1/2 weeks until my favorite holiday of all year! And one of the best parts of Christmas? Christmas carols!!!

"Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her king! Let every heart prepare him room and heaven and nature sing..." I remember singing that one from the time I was little and used to stand beside my parents at church singing that song and others like it every year. At the time I loved the songs but it didn't go much beyond that, now I love the songs and the words.

"Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright." That's one of the first Christmas songs kids learn these days and yet it doesn't lose it's magic as we become adults. Sometimes we forget the first part though, about silence. We don't remember how important that can be.

"He's making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who's naughty and nice. Santa Claus is coming to town!" One of my favorite memories is standing beside my Grandma as she was baking and singing that song with her. Later when she got cancer she was too weak to do some of those things but that's one memory I'll never forget.

"Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose..." Now this is a Christmas classic. One day my dad and I actually rewrote it so that it talked about Randie the shiny-eyed cowgirl instead. It was silly but Dad knew it made me feel special and like always he wanted the best for me so he didn't mind how strange or silly it was.

"Hark the hearld angels sing, glory to the newborn king!" One of my favorite parts of the Christmas story is the part of the angels appearing to the shepherds. They didn't hesitate but immediately went to worship this baby who they already recognized as their king.

"Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?" I love this one because it makes me really think about who Mary and Joseph must have been. To say they were just kids is more then an expression. They were impossibly young but they were found worthy in God's eyes to be the early parents of his Son. Now that is an incredibly legacy to leave behind.

"I want to buy these shoes for my Mama please, it's Christmas eve and these shoes are just her size." Now this one gets to me every time. It often brings tears to my eyes as I hear about the little boy's dedication, spending all the money he has to give his Mama a gift because he knows that she doesn't have much longer. My mom is one of the most important people in my life and I can't imagine something happening to her but in this song you realize that even if that little boy loses his mom she's already instilled some amazing values in him, including the importance of selflessness and the true reason for this season.