Rediscovering the Joy of Christmas....Through Music.

For those of you that don't know I'm a Entertainment Industry Major at the University of North Alabama. I'm a junior studying the Business side of the Music Industry. I use to love Christmas time, and love listening to Christmas music. What this has to do with my Major we'll get to that later. I've been reminiscing lately, I remember putting up the Christmas tree the day after thanksgiving. My mom, sister and I would put on Christmas music and break out all the ornaments and little village houses and lights. It was such a joyful time. I got to spend time with my family and sing songs granted my mom was tone def so she never sang in tune, but that didn't matter. It was about family and Jesus and celebrating his birth. 

After moving to college and my moms passing, I loved to go home and be with my dad and sister but it wasn't the same it never would be. Putting up the Christmas tree and decorating without my mom just wasn't the same. I started to resent people who would listen to Christmas music all the time and be joyful, and I hated stores for skipping over Halloween and Thanksgiving and putting out Christmas stuff in September. I knew that's not the way I should be but that's the way I felt. 

I rarely go home now not because I don't want to but because I'm just so busy with my life in Florence. I just got back from my thanksgiving break and I loved spending time with my family, I hadn't been home in months. After all the Thanksgiving gatherings, there wasn't that "now Thanksgiving is over time to decorate for Christmas" feeling. I'm not even sure my dad is going to put a Christmas tree up this year. It makes me sad, not because Christmas is all about decorating its about Jesus and celebrating his birth, but it's fun to spend time with your family and sing, be joyful, wish for snow, and drink hot cocoa. 

Over the past two years I just stopped thinking about Christmas. I would never make a big deal about it, but I just bought She & Him's new Christmas album because I love their sound and Zooey Deschanel's voice. I don't know what it was, but Listening to their Christmas songs just sparked some kind of joy in me. I started to remember all the good times with my mom all the laughs and how I should spend life celebrating her and being the person she knew I could be. It made me think of what she always use to tell me, "Christmas isn't about presents it's about celebrating the birth of Jesus, his life, and what's He's done for us. It's about being with your family and the joy of having each others company." I now can't stop smiling and can't wait to get home and put on Christmas music and start singing and decorating even if my father protest. Yes, I still dislike store's skipping over Halloween and Thanksgiving and going straight to Christmas, but I think I understand it a little more. We all long for that time of year when we can sit by a fire with the ones we love and celebrate life. 

So now back to my Major. It's funny how music, the one thing that has changed and inspired my life so much, including my choice of Major, can make me love Christmas again. I know God has been working on the hardness in my heart for a while and he used music to soften it. So be happy this Christmas no matter what you are going through or what you've been through. Just remember What Christmas is truly about: Family and the most important family member of all your Heavenly Father.

-Heather Marie