Christmas Sunday Sights and Sounds

On the sweetness of Mormon life.

The children are singing.  One little boy sees his teacher gesture for more volume.  He juts his jaw out with grim resolution.  He bellows the words.  His father in the choir is smirking.

During the sacrament you are in a brown reverie, for no reason, about Dr. Samuel Johnson.  You come out of the reverie to hear a kid shrieking.  It dawns on you that it is your own toddler, sitting in your lap.  She is not sad or excited.  Her shrieks have no reason.  You tell her to stop and she does.  She nestles in to you.

Your oldest daughter plays Mary, Did You Know for the congregation while your middlest daughter sings it.  Your heart feels like it would burst.

You and your wife are both in the choir but sit in the pews with your two youngest.  A priest wearing a hollyberry tie comes up and asks if he can sit with your children so you can stay on the stand through the last song.  During the last number, you finish your tenor solo and look down–your two-year old daughter is nestling in to him.

The congregation stays around talking loud and happy.  No one wants to leave.

Your middlest says, “Christmas on Sunday is the best Christmas ever!”