As this Christmas season has continued to bring memories that have been stored in my mind’s archives for many years, a beautiful duet between mommy and daddy resonates in my musical heart. Daddy served a Lutheran parish in Upperco, Maryland and the associated mountain church. The parsonage we lived in was a two-story Cape Cod with a beautiful fireplace in the living room. David and I were supposed to be asleep upstairs, but on this particular Christmas Eve, I heard a beautiful duet coming from down below my bedroom.
I snuck downstairs to see what my parents were doing. They were standing, arm in arm, looking into the fireplace, with only the colors of the Christmas tree ghostly outlining the shape of their bodies. As their voices harmonized together, I recognized the melodies of “Silent Night” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” One of the most enduring memories of my parents was their beautiful voices, both as soloists and more powerfully as singers of duets.
Why these two carols? Mommy loved singing “Silent Night,” often while tears came, because she loved singing that melody with her mother. Tears come to my eyes when I remember listening to mommy and grammy harmonize “Silent Night” in Hungarian the last Christmas before mommy died of cancer. There is no more loving message for a family than a little girl hearing the two most important women in her life connecting in a loving duet on the most holy night of the Christmas season. Love is a powerful blessing when we realize that the birth of Jesus Christ is the light the world needs to fight the power of darkness, whether in 1964 or today in 2020.
Daddy loved singing “O Little Town of Bethlehem” every Christmas Eve because it reminded him of the sacrifices his mother made so that he could go to college and then onto divinity school. The carol was so special to his heart that not one Christmas Eve would pass without the congregation singing it. I would watch him singing the melody and trying to hide his tears from the congregation by hiding behind the pulpit. To no avail, when he would stand to read the scriptures, the congregation would see his face, and they would connect with his love by the way he read Mary’s name. Some people say grown men should not cry, but on many Christmas Eves, what I saw was a grown man showing strength.
What made Christmas Eve so special to me was that my parents were singing in their ancestral languages, “Silent Night” in Hungarian and “O Little Town of Bethlehem” in German. As a little girl, I couldn’t speak a word in either of these languages, but the love that shown through my parents’ harmonizing carried me to another higher place of God’s love, heaven.
The night was silent and calm, and a mother beamed a heavenly smile on the Holy infant asleep in a small manger. The shepherds were astounded at the sight of such a beautiful child, and the angels sang, “Alleluia,” to Christ the Savior. Beams of pure light radiated from Christ’s face and redeeming grace came into the world from Jesus’ birth. God gave His own Son so that we might have an abundant life.
The silent stars shone over the tiny manger that night, and all our hopes and fears were met by Jesus Christ, a tiny angelic child. Mary gave birth to the Christ child while the angels watched from above. The morning stars proclaimed the birth and peace on earth. Silently, God gives to all human hearts His greatest blessings. Christ enters the sinful world and brings peace to all who open their hearts to Him. Christ was born in the past, lives in today, and blesses the future. The Christmas angels bring great tidings of joy, and Christ comes to us, abides in us, as our Lord Immanuel.
The most important day in the Christmas season to me is Christmas Eve. On that night, God gave His greatest gift, His only Begotten Son, to a darkened world. On that night, God gives me the talent to sing my grateful praises to Him and His Son in “O Holy Night.” On that night, I play the pipe organ as a gift to the Christ child and as a message to the world that Christ has been born, “The Hallelujah Chorus!” My heart, my life, my world, has been blessed with the birth of Immanuel. The greatest gift any child can be given is two loving parents whose harmonizing was truly a blessing for their family and the world. In that memory, I am not afraid to let my own tears flow.
Anna Hartt
