Silent Night

Like many people “Silent Night” is my favorite Christmas Hymn. It’s a lullaby for the infant Jesus, and like many lullabies, it’s peaceful and soothing.

I actually have a special memory attached to this hymn. It involves a nativity my maternal grandparents put under their Christmas tree. Unlike many nativities this one wasn’t static. It was an electrical music box with a star that illuminated the manager and figures that rotated around the Holy Family. The shepherds were on one side and the wise men on the other. As the figures rotated, it played “Silent Night”. I loved to lie under the tree and watch it. In fact, it’s the one thing I really remember clearly about Christmas Eve dinner at their house (other than Grandma’s Waldorf Salad). Well, I do remember some of the gifts I received, but none of them hold a special place in my heart like that nativity did.

My grandparents moved out of that house when I was about 10 or 11. They decided it was time to downsize and relocate where someone else did all the maintenance. Grandma gave me a carved jewelry box because I liked to play with the jewelry she kept in it. I guess because it was spring or summer when they moved, I didn’t give the nativity a thought. But it didn’t go with them to their apartment. After they moved from the house, I never saw it again. Like most of us, it was probably a case of out-of-sight, out of mind. But a few years ago I started thinking about the nativity. My husband injured his back while on active duty with the military in 2006. To say we’ve been through a lot would be an understatement. When life gets difficult who among us wouldn’t want to go back in time and re-experience a special memory? Sadly, no one recalls what happened to the nativity, and I haven’t been able to find another like it. My father and my husband are both woodworkers. Perhaps they would like to help me make a replica. In the meantime, I still take a great deal of comfort from “Silent Night”.

The Project Queen