Silent Night was my favorite carol when I was young. I could sing the first verse in French and German as well as in English.
So what changed my opinion?
One year the police knocked on the door in the early hours of Christmas Eve.
Yes, it was the news parents most dread hearing. A child was dead. A teenager actually.
Why the connection to ‘Silent Night?’
I don’t know if the TV, radio and shops played that carol more than usual, but it seemed to be played everywhere, and my husband remarked, ‘yes, it is a silent night for our son.’
After that every year, when the first carols were played in the supermarkets, or on TV, it was a reminder that an anniversary we would rather not have was approaching.
Even yet, Silent Night is a carol that will have me reach for a mute button, or if in a shop… walk the other way.
Silent Night announces the approach of Christmas
Christmas is a sad time for many people.
Regardless of whether or not you celebrate it, Christmas is one of those fixed times when the focus is on the season.
However, for anyone who has suffered the loss of someone dear to them it is a reminder of the missing person in their lives.
Another December death
In a little less than two weeks will be the anniversary of the death of my husband. His death was no accident, it was the result of a long battle with Pulmonary Fibrosis. Although he lost the battle, he lived longer than the usual prognosis for that condition. In fact, most people did not know he was terminally ill, and he touched many lives, encouraging them.
When we were told the end was fast approaching it was a shock. However, I didn’t want people sending me cards saying how much they loved him. Instead, I asked people to send him messages. I had them bound in a book and called it ‘Messages of Love.’ And they were, because he was well-loved.
No, December is not my favourite month, and I still dislike ‘Silent Night’ – in fact I do not like this time of year at all. It’s a month filled with lies, teaching our children to distrust us, and in a way showing them it is okay to lie.
I will see those two special people from my life again, and I miss them every month, not only December. But December is the time of the anniversaries of their deaths.
We will pray for the Eternal to comfort you through this time, and also after that. We would have to agree with you, in that we don’t care for the Christmas season at all, nor for the carols that you hear everywhere from mid-November till the end of December. We know all to well how depressed many of the people are for the next few months after that season, mainly because of so much money having been spent because that they believe in the Christmas lies.
Thank you. Interestingly, I looked up suicide statistics and they are higher in January than in December. Might be when the credit card statements arrive.
🙂 God bless
I have no doubts that it is a contributor. Also, January has the least sunlight hours here in the north. The ruler of this era surely has it figured out, where to place his holiday to have maximum effect.
And here it is so hot (usually) in January that we are either too hot to pay attention, or worrying about how to pay the electric bill as we are running air conditioning.
All the same, the first carols heralded an anniversary neither Geoff nor I wanted. But we survived, praise God.