The Sounds of the Season

[Evelyn L Abston]

Yesterday, I went to my sister's home to make tamales and catch up with my Sister, Elaine her husband, Greg and my brother, Gabe. Gabe who is a very talented guitarist/songwriter brought his Ibanez and I bought my baby Psaltery.  We played Silent NIght, Jingle Bells, Feliz Navidad and God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman. On Silent Night and Feliz Navidad, I did some improvisation with the Psaltery. It was a little rough, but for the first time it was pretty good. We plan to get together more in 2013 to fine tune our playing styles. The Psaltery is an easy instrument to add harmony to. I was using my ear to play in the right key. Luckily my brother plays in the key of G so I only needed to remember to play the F#. My Sister Elaine, is re-learning the Violin, so next Christmas we will be adding the violin.

This was a healing event in my family this year. Because both ouur parents have made their transition, it is the four of us now reconnecting and builder a new foundation of family. It has been really good to talk about our own memories we have growing up. It has been a very healing experience to hear our perceptions on our family dynamics. Our youngest brother, Christopher lives in Oregon but we plan to travel in 2013 and visit with him and his Wife (In our eyes they are married). I look forward to that.

For me the sounds of the season are not just the renditions of Silent NIght or We wish you a Merry Christmas, It is also the sounds of our laughter and silliness. It is the sounds of the happy surprise my sister or brother made when they opened our gifts. It is the sounds of hearing the sparkling Apple cider pouring in to our glasses or the various forms of yum we make when we are eating the home made Tamales, or Christmas treats like the Italian canolies my husband made.  These were the sounds of the season I will look back on and know this is what Christmas is about. Being with our family, giving from our hearts and being so very grateful we have gotten re-connected.

[Donna Malus]

Well said Evelyn, you brought a tear to my eye. I suppose Christmas is more what you make of it and we needn't sit around waiting for it to make itself special for us. That's were disappointment comes from.