Christmas Spirit

My dad is/was a choir director, so Christmas has always meant music to me. I sang all through high school in the Serenaders--a show choir at school. We did 30 performances between 12/1 and midnight at 12/24. We sang at Kiwanis, DAR, elementary schools. The week before Christmas we sang every single day at one of the local banks at 11am and then at McDonald's at 12pm. Our last performance was before the midnight mass at the Catholic church on Christmas Eve.

Far and away, my favorite performance every year was the men's prison Sunday school class. However, it wasn't our performance that was the highlight; it was the prisoners' performance. We would sing for them, they would sing for us, and then we would all sing together. My pediatrician, Dr. Harrison, and Mr. Mac taught the class and arranged for us to come. Mr. Mac would lead the group singing. They had a songbook that everything from "Amazing Grace" to "If You're Happy and You Know It." Hearing the beautiful harmonies and voices that filled that room and imagining what led those men to this place would always make me so thankful for what I have. It also made me hopeful. I would look in their eyes and hear their stories and believe in the power of redemption. And isn't that what Christmas is all about?

When I lived in DC and while in law school, the song "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" became a big joke with Leslie and me. Her parents were pretty recently divorced and mine soon temporarily lost their minds. Spending the holidays shut up with these people who clearly did not like each other (in my case) or ping ponging back and forth between them (in Leslie's case) was clearly "the most wonderful time of the year." Anytime one of us would start complaining, the other would just break out into song (well, I broke out more than Les. She's not the breaking into song type). I always missed all of the singing that I used to do and thought maybe that contributed to my scrooginess.

This year, between my community chorus commitments and church choir commitments, I've felt like I'm back in the Serenaders. However, I told my mom on Sunday that I still felt like I was missing out since I hadn't been to the prison. I was talking to another Serenader this afternoon who is 8 years my senior. We never sang together, but when he mentioned lacking the Christmas spirit, I said, "we need to go to the prison." He knew exactly what I was talking about.

I know Dr. Harrison is getting very old. I'm pretty sure Mr. Mac passed away (I sure hope they sang "if you're happy and you know it wear a smile--TEE HEE" at his funeral). I just hope that someone is continuing that wonderful tradition that has touched so many lives and set the standard for the Christmas spirit for us all.