Christmas 2008

Take a few minutes and drive to Main Street, in Saint Charles. At the corner of First Capitol Drive and Main Street is Berthold Park, site of the City Christmas Tree - a beautiful tree donated generously by Eugene and Suzanne Carroll. The tree stands nearly as tall as the 3-story Lewis and Clark's Restaurant.

I'm not good at estimating sizes - but I'd guess it's around 600 feet tall. See a slide show of the tree-raising at http://www.historicstcharles.com/

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When I was around 10 yrs old, about 1969, I remember being at midnight mass on Christmas Eve at St. Robert's Catholic church in St. Charles, MO. My parents were involved with the choir; my father was the conductor - despite being a Lutheran.

This particular mass, for some reason had a special feel. The church was so pretty, the music sounded wonderful, and, heck, it was Christmas Eve. For some reason the songs of the choir sounded extra beautiful that night. More than just the standard Christmas-feel of the songs, they seemed to ring beautifully in the night. One woman sang "O, Holy Night" - and it sounded so beautiful, the notes were so clear and perfect that I decided right then, that this was my new favorite Christmas song.

When mass was finished, I asked my mom who was singing that song, because it sounded so pretty. She said "Don't you know who that was?" I replied that I did not, she said "That was me"

I always knew that my mom had a beautiful voice, but it was that night that I heard the music through new ears. I heard the beautiful song, and the beautiful performance, and then found out who the singer was. That night raised my mother a notch in the eyes of a Christmas-awed little boy, and put "O, Holy Night" forever at the top of my favorite Christmas song list, where it remains today.

Happy Christmas from Serapis!