The Music of Christmas

In the Dr. Seuss Christmas classic, the Grinch attempts to stop Christmas from coming to the Whos down in Whoville.  He steals their presents.  He steals their lights and their trees.  He even steals the food for their feast, taking every roast beast.  Though he has stolen every tangible sign he could get his green hands on, the Grinch finds that Christmas comes anyway.  This discovery comes to him because of one of the things he could not steal: the music of Christmas.  Without drums, without trumpets, without harps, horns, or bells, the music of Christmas still filled the air.

Just as the Whos down in Whoville, Christmas and music go hand in hand.  No other holiday has music so intrinsically a part of it.  Music is so ingrained into the season that we even sing about singing.  When we “need a little Christmas” we also “need a little singing, ringing through the rafters.”  When we are “dashing through the snow” we can’t help but “ride and sing a sleighing song tonight.”  Whether we are “caroling, caroling through the snow” or “rockin’ around the Christmas tree,” the music of the season fills the air and fills our hearts.

Of course not all Christmas music is created equal.  Those songs which testify of the birth of our Savior traditionally bear the label “carols.”  One such carol, “Carol to the King,” has become a personal favorite.  It invites: “Tune your heart to hear His music / feel the glory of His love.”  Just as Christ is at the heart of Christmas, so too is He at the heart of Christmas music.  That is why it is so near and dear to our own hearts and brings us closer to Him each season.

As wonderful as it is to have a “holly, jolly Christmas” and do the “Jingle Bell Rock,” may we make time this season and always to turn our minds to Christ and tune our hearts to His music.  In life, we will likely still have to go “dashing through the snow,” but first and last let us “hasten to the manger, that we too may join the song.”  After all, the song we sing is not of sleigh rides or snowmen, reindeer or gifts.  Rather, we “sing the song of redeeming love” (Alma 5:26), a song which is “joyful and triumphant.”  Filled with such a song, our hearts – like the Grinch’s – can’t help but grow.

“We all rejoice, with songs we sing, to bring the world a newborn King.”

Merry Christmas!
Jennifer A. Henderson