Thanksgiving!
Okay, well, Christmas isn't here just yet, much to my chagrin. I love Christmas and start thinking about it every, oh, August or so. Growing up, my father had to restrain me from playing holiday music in October. "No Christmas music until after Thanksgiving!" he would declare.
It was, and still is, a guilty pleasure of mine to listen to Handel's "Messiah" long before the holiday decorations have begun to appear in shop windows and on the outside of buildings. My father may be several thousand miles away, but I still listen surreptitiously, headphones on.
Handel's Messiah is beautiful. Most people don't realize there is a lot more to it than the Hallelujah chorus. In my opinion, there is no better way to begin a dreary work day than with the soul stirring refrain in the section "For Unto Us a Child is Born." I am riding on the overheated metro, praying Isaiah 9:6 along with the chorus. A full orchestra (London Symphony) adds the exclamation points to "Wonderful!" "Counselor!" Arpeggios soar toward the heavens. The violins sing on the E string. I am carried out of my daily commute to a higher place.
Isaiah 9:6 is read at midnight mass on Christmas eve. For years, my family attended this mass. We would celebrate Christmas Eve dinner, "Jul Aften," with my grandparents, arriving home around 10 pm. Gathered in my parent's living room, we would sit half dozing or quietly chatting until it was time to bundle up against the cold and go to church. Inside, the lights were blazing and the organ and trumpets blaring. "Joy to the World" never sounds as perfect at any other time.
Midnight mass seems to bring all kinds of people out of the woodwork. I have sat with people who brought their own sodas (maybe they were looking for a movie?), who were exchanging and unwrapping gifts during the service and the inevitable few who simply fall asleep. I guess what matters is that they try.
I really can't wait until the day after Thanksgiving. I will fill my house with music.
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