Angels we have heard...

On Sunday I watched our Martha Kate and a group of other sweet little small people sing give all they have in our church's carol festival.  Now, I love Christmas music.  I start playing it as soon as possible.  I can't wait for the local radio station to switch over at Thanksgiving and now that I've figured out how to use this portable blue tooth speaker thingy, I carry it from room to room spreading my holiday cheer.  Drives Stephen nuts.  I admit I can't really sing but it doesn't stop me from belting GLO-UH-UH-UH-UH-RIA as loud as I can.

I think what I love even more is little children singing Christmas music.  There is something so sweet and innocent about their voices.  They sing as only children do.  Many of the words were in Latin but Kate is convinced it's Spanish.  She has no idea what the words are - I had to look them up myself to find out their meaning.  What I realized is so different with kids and adults is that I spent time actually looking up the meaning of the words because I couldn't get past not knowing and all of those little kids just sang it as if it were Jingle Bells.  And, the truth is, they are much smarter than me.  I am convinced that they didn't need to know because they actually felt the meaning.
I watched their faces as the first horns of the orchestra blew.  Eyes widened and heads turned.  They watched the director wave his arms emphatically, the flute, the harp, the drums.  Clearly a new experience for some. Then they sang.  About the birth of the baby that would save the world.  In Latin.  Regardless of the words, the meaning was clear - the heavens and earth rejoiced over the birth of Jesus.
Now, I had a direct view of my little angel on the stage in her tuxedo shirt.  She was on the front and the end, of course.  We had some tears before the program in regards to a shirt and bow tie that looked like a boy and was choking her, and with the busy weekend, I was kind of unsure how this was going to go.  But, she sang almost every word - or her interpretation of the words. And in between singing, she stared at the harpist, and waved her arms to help the director conduct, straightened her bow tie, and mouthed "Sofia?" to me in regards to the princess doll I promised if she would wear the shirt.
And, then there was the moment that I looked up to see her surrounded by properly trained musicians in tuxes sticking out her tongue.  "NO! NO! NO!" I mouthed and did a little cut-throat motion.  I looked down beside me to see her older brother sticking his tongue out at her.  He got a good leg pinch and an ugly look too.  "What?  I was trying to make her happy and smile." That made for a good lesson on the way home on how much influence he has on his sister and further emphasized that she won't be outdone by him in anyway even in the midst of such a formal event.  Gotta love some pew parenting.
Regardless, it was fun to watch, and the tongue incident - well, it only lasted a couple of seconds.  I should have probably been mad instead of kind of finding it funny.  At least they connect with each other in some way, at least he was watching his sister, and maybe only a few people in the front saw it. Who cares.  She still did great.  I asked her later what she liked most and she said that tall heart thing that you play like this, waving her fingers in front of her.  "And, mommy, those drums were giving me a heartbeat."  Bailey liked the big violin.  I think we might need to culture our children a little more.
I can only imagine what it must have sounded like when Jesus was born - or every day in heaven for that matter
The voices of the angels were heard and understood regardless of the language.  The earth was peaceful.  People smiled at each other in adoration just as the violinist smiled at her neighbor after his amazing solo performance.  I'm sure no one stuck out their tongue.  But, if they did, I'm sure the forgiveness that Jesus brings would have covered that too.  And, as for the princess Sofia doll and her little forest animals, she earned it.  It only cost me $7.29, so I'd say that the experience was definitely worth it.