Christmas

This time of year is so often just craziness. There are things to do, people to visit, stuff to buy. People are everywhere, the malls are packed, and it is generally an insane time of year. It is so easy to lose the reason for the season. When it comes down to it, we are celebrating the birth of a very extraordinary man, who changed the world entirely. As much as religion gets twisted and turned to fit people's agendas, Jesus was a man that was all about love and peace.

And I always try to remember that when I'm stuck in traffic at Christmas time, and people around me are honking, swerving around each other, flipping people off, etc. It's not about gifts, not the giving or the receiving, it's not about baked goods and chocolate and Santa and such. It's about love, and it's about making a contribution to the world that is worthwhile. It's about trying to be a better person. Being together with your family, and realizing that what you have right now, is wonderful.

Anyways, it's a sentimental time of year, and one can't help but think about these things. I mean, I"m not overly religious or anything, but you can't come upon the Christmas season without at least contemplating Jesus and what his birth meant to this world.

I was listening to Silent Night on the way to work this morning, and a sense of calm kind of washed over me. Whoa, that sounded dorky! But, I really love that song. Especially the Zack Gill version. It is sung just how it was meant to be...just with a guitar.

The history of Silent Night is interesting. It was originally sung in 1818 in Austria, written by a young priest named Joseph Mohr. It was written as a poem initially. For whatever reason, on December 24th, 1818, the organ at Joseph Mohr's church didn't work. So Silent Night was sung by a choir, two priests, backed up by a guitar with the music written by a man named Frank Gruber, who was a friend of Mr. Mohr's.

It would have been pretty great to have been there on that night. I do adore that song. It's so simple, and tells the story of Christmas wonderfully. Brings it all back to where it belongs.