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LafayetteLady -> RE: Merry Christmas (12/24/2011 9:48:14 PM)
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Our service was held earlier. As a child, raised Catholic, my father took us to a special midnight mass. It was all done in Latin and the church (which happens to have a Christmas tree farm) was filled with boughs of evergreen and trees. That Christmas pine tree smell permeated the air, smelling so sweet and spiced. There was a "brother" (they weren't priests or monks, but called brothers) who every year stood next to my father and I during the singing. My father was a much sought after tenor by many choirs. The brother stood next to us and joined my father and I singing "O Come All Ye Faithful," and "Oh Holy Night." We were like a little trio in a room filled with people singing. But I could only ever hear us. And I would watch in amazement because the brother had the biggest adam's apple I had ever seen, lol.
That is one of my favorite memories of time with my father. After mass, we would go in the back for coffee and baked goodies.
Tonight in church, we sang those songs, but only if I closed my eyes could I see my father and the brother standing next to me. The church didn't have all the evergreen boughs, but it had the baked sweets.
I miss my father the most this time of year. The time when he and I went to church and shared that special time, but tonight it felt like he was there with me and it raised my spirits just a little to think of him standing next to me, filling the sanctuary with his loud clear tenor voice.
So Merry Christmas to everyone, Happy Chanukka to everyone, Happy Winter Solstice to everyone as well. May your celebrations bring you a similar memory of a wonderful time your shared the holiday with a loved one who is gone.
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