Christmas and Music

What would Christmas be without music?  Here are some of the wonderful moments we enjoyed this holiday season:

As we decorated our Christmas tree, we listened to Kurt Bestor's arrangements of Angels We Have Heard on High, and Prayer of the Children, among others.  His music is some of our favorite.

Another day we invited the family over for dinner.  Afterward, we bundled up and walked to some of our neighbor's homes to sing Christmas carols and leave a box of cookies.  It was touching to see the expression of appreciation in the faces of friends I have grown to love over the years.

Then, two days before Christmas, we sang with the ward choir.  I like to think we might have been part of the heavenly choir that sang to the Shepherds on the night of the Savior's birth.  And like the Shepherd's humble gift, we gave from our hearts.

Christmas Eve, I requested that Bill and our youngest son play the marimba Bill's mother gave him.  The marimba is a beautiful instrument that produces mellow sounds like a harp.  Afterward we continued singing Christmas carols and hymns around the piano.

Christmas morning has traditionally been a time when our children find clever ways of waking Bill and I up before opening presents.   For instance, one year Bill and I spotted the blinds on our window suddenly begin to wave.  Then our TV turned on unexpectedly, with no one else in the room.  Finally our adult children burst into the room to pounce on us and get us up.  We found out, the night before, they had meticulously hidden a string in the carpet that connected the window blinds to the hallway outside our door, and they confiscated our TV control so they could operate it through the window, ... such an elaborate prank and one we remember every year.  Other years they succeeded to get me bolting from the bed to the sound of wrapping paper being torn.  Preset cell phone alarms, trumpet trios, singing off key or other presentations have been equally memorable.  This year, with most of the children celebrating Christmas morning in their own homes, and with guests in our home, it was our turn to wake everyone in the house.  Bill and our son chose to play a trumpet duet for the missionaries and my father, intentionally off key.  It's guaranteed to wake every mouse in the house!

A few days before Christmas, I overheard the missionaries (from Vermont and Georgia) practicing a song for a missionary devotional.  So, after opening our presents Christmas morning, I requested they sing "Oh Come Emanuel" as a gift to us.

Then, we enjoyed a brunch at our oldest son's home.  This was followed by listening to him play the guitar while we sang Silent Night, Old King Wenceslas and other favorites.    It's a treat to blend our voices and be touched by words that keep our thoughts alive with hope and joy.  We have always loved music and the power of it's message.  I appreciate these Christmas gifts which continue to bind us together, and allow me to experience feelings of love while worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ.

Atlanta Georgia Temple - Angel with Trumpet

While in Birmingham, I discovered we were only a little over two hours away from Atlanta.  So, on an afternoon when Bill could leave his work a little early, we made the drive.  Driving anywhere, in the Eastern United States is enjoyable, as there are so many beautiful landscapes and green vistas.  However, fall wet weather has begun, and the wind and late hour, kept us from walking outside for more than a few moments.

Beautiful woodwork is part of the newly refurnished Atlanta Temple.  But the chandeliers are always a highlight in every temple.  We especially enjoyed the large chandelier in the Celestial Room.



On top of most temples, is a gold plated statue of the Angel Moroni blowing his trumpet.  It is symbolic of heralding in the latter days, and the restoration and message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, before the coming of the Savior's return to the earth for his Millennial reign.

I found the following information on a search on lds.org:

The Salt Lake Temple, dedicated in 1893, was the first temple topped with an angel formally identified as Moroni. When Church President Wilford Woodruff (1807–98) asked non-LDS artist Cyrus Dallin to create a statue, Dallin declined. Knowing that Dallin’s parents had once been active Latter-day Saints, President Woodruff encouraged him to consult with his mother.

Dallin’s mother felt he should accept the commission. When he said he did not believe in angels, his mother asked, “Why do you say that? … You call me your ‘angel mother.’” ³ She encouraged him to study Latter-day Saint scriptures for inspiration, which he did. His design was a dignified, neoclassical angel in robe and cap, standing upright with a trumpet in hand. The original one-meter plaster model was completed by 4 October 1891, and a full-size model was sent to Salem, Ohio, where the statue was hammered out of copper and covered with 22-karat gold leaf. The 3.8 meter statue stands on a stone ball on the 64-meter central spire on the east side.

Replicas of the statue, fashioned in the 1930s by Torlief Knaphus and later cast by LaVar Wallgren, can be found on the Atlanta Georgia Temple and the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple.

Cyrus Dallin was born in Springville, Utah, on 22 November 1861. His family had joined the Church in England and immigrated to Utah in 1851. Once there, however, Dallin’s parents joined the Presbyterian Church. As a child, Cyrus loved sketching and modeling with clay. Eventually he studied art in Boston, Massachusetts. “I considered that my ‘Angel Moroni’ brought me nearer to God than anything I ever did,” he said. “It seemed to me that I came to know what it means to commune with angels from heaven.”