Beautiful Is The Child

Having a new baby around Christmas time can be a heady experience. The core of the nativity story, you know -- when you take out all the messiah stuff, is really a celebration of the miracle of birth. And I've noticed that when you constantly have a tiny baby in your arms during the holiday season everything is just a little bit more charged.

I remember a moment when Lowell was about a month old. It was late, I was listening to "Silent Night" and tears started to stream down my face. A song I had heard thousands of times suddenly sounded new and the enormity of the entire experience of creating a life revealed itself. (I may have also been seriously sleep-deprived, but that's all part of the mystery, right? It's no coincidence that the most reverent hymns are about the baby Jesus sleeping.) This year at Christmas, with another newborn, I have been having similar moments. Feeling joy in the extreme, but laced with the unique terror that comes with being trusted to care for a tiny, vulnerable thing that has a value beyond measure. Most of the time I don't think about it. Most of the time I am caught up in the minutia of the day or the week. I'm not thinking about the fact that Matthew and I just created a human being out of thin air. But when the nativity myth is everywhere it comes back to me. A miracle has happened here. A tiny, spit-up covered miracle that keeps me up at night, but a miracle nonetheless.

Merry Christmas to you who celebrate. And peace be with you all.

Comments

[Kyran]

divine.

[Assertagirl]

Beautiful, Alana. Merry Christmas.

[Felicia]

Merry Christmas :)

[E.]

So well expressed. Yes.

[Animal]

You created a baby out of THIN AIR??? Wow, that's GREAT! You have to tell us your secret...most women have to painfully push one out their nether regions...

Okay, seriously: I'm glad I wasn't the only one out there who found extra joy this holiday with the addition of a new baby. Granted, our "new" one recently passed the 5-month mark, but the effect was still the same: best present of the year, bar none. Best wishes for an equally splendid 2008.

[BOSSY]

And a Happy Merry to you. Truly.

[AB]

Despite the fact that I doubt the "divinity" behind the nativity story, I don't doubt that two very young, weary and expectant people had a baby long ago in a barn because they couldn't afford anything else. And it seemed a miracle to them...just as the births of our children seem to us. Like you, the music evokes a lot of emotion in me. As beautiful as "O Holy Night" is...the music also makes me hugely nostalgic and sad. Moreso now that I have kids than ever before. And that connection with Mary (however scanty my beliefs)is strengthened. I hope your holiday was wonderful in its mystery and joy. Whatever one's faith system...I wish that for everyone.