Carbon Copy

Carolling

Brace yourself: this might get cheesy and sentimental.

Something I don't talk about much is how much I like to sing. Like, I love it! Driving in the car, in the shower, when I'm doing the dishes. I love to belt it and hear my voice carry. This has led me to joining the choir in pretty much every ward I was ever in. Purdue is no different, even though our choir consists of 5 or 6 people, give or take a few. Well, tonight was the Stake Carol Sing. This is when all the different choirs prepare a number and we all get together and sing them, interspersed with other Christmas songs and scriptures, etc. In my neighborhood growing up, this was informally called "the battle of the choirs."

So tonight, I got to sit up on the stage thingy (I can't think of its real term) and join in all the carolling fun. But I didn't expect to be filled with so much joy. It caught me with the first number, "O Holy Night." I almost had to stop singing; I could hardly stand the swelling joy. It must've been unbelievable because it made all the off-key choirs sound so tender. I couldn't help but fall in love with them, even in their Christmas sweaters. And the old man with his hunched back, the tape-recorded accompaniment, the lady falling asleep next to me, they all deeply touched me. I was so glad I got to belt out the Hallelujah chorus. When Handel wrote that, I doubt he pictured the rural Indiana crowd that would stand to sing it, but it was beautiful.