angels

Today we opened Christmas boxes and put up the tree. Out of the tubs came my mother, embodied in several angels she had given me, some for the tree and this one, above, my favorite piece of Christmas. She's a holy wood nymph with a candle holder, carved from wood. Mom is all around me today, maybe it is her spirit I celebrate this year.

Lucky me, after my parents passed away, I of all the eight kids somehow managed to get the large Christmas Songs and Carols book we grew up with. (Shhh.) It was published in 1955, the year before I was born, and was illustrated by Rafaello Busoni (1900-1962). See below, more angels in his illustration for an Old French carol arranged by Franz Liszt "L'Enfant Jésus s'endort" ("While Baby Jesus Sleeps"). As a child and until I was an adult with my own children on my lap, I sat at my mother's piano while she played carols from this book. We sang together, and I turned the pages. Turning the pages now evokes every bit of love-music on that bench. See how my dad repaired the broken binding with duct tape. Oh, did my father love duct tape.

Maybe Lesley will play this at her piano in our house in a few weeks, while I turn the pages, and we sing. I play a little, but she plays beautifully.