White Christmas

It snowed last night in Mt. Juliet. I awoke early this morning to put the turkey in the oven and noticed our deck covered in snow. It was 19 degrees outside at sunrise. Granted, we only measured 0.2″ of accumulation, but the good thing about living in Tennessee is that 0.2″ of snow constitutes a White Christmas. Our standards here are very low.

Yesterday afternoon, we went to Christmas Eve service at church. It was a splendid event and very well attended. It was encouraging to be among the faithful.

After celebrating Christmas at my mother-in-law’s, which is how we traditionally spend our Christmas Eve each year, we came home and lit the tree and changed into warm pajamas. My wife and I watched “Charlie Brown Christmas.” The soundtrack by the Vince Guaraldi Trio is a jazz classic and the cartoon actually contains scripture references about Christmas and the Christ child which I find a heartwarming oasis in this secular culture of ours.

The skit closes with the characters singing “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” Likewise, I’ll close with a few of the lyrics from that song as we celebrate Christmas, 2020:

Hark! The herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled.”
Joyful, all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies,
With th’angelic host proclaim:
“Christ is born in Bethlehem.”
Hark! The herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

Merry Christmas, everyone.