When our
sons were young, we took them to the Portland Symphony Orchestra’s performance
of the Magic of Christmas a few times.
We dressed them up, brought them downtown in the evening’s cold of
December to see the holiday decorations and the enormous tree in Monument
Square, and held their hands in Merrill Auditorium while watching and listening. My older son said he has no recollection.
“None?” I ask.
“The Symphony’s music? The crazy
hats and reindeer antlers they wore while playing Sleigh Ride? The 4-year old ballet dancers in leotards
that brought out Santa’s sleigh at the end?
(There is nothing cuter than 4-year old ballet dancers with little buns
in their hair!) Really? Nothing?”
I was incredulous.
“Nope,” he
replied. “I can’t remember everything.”
I can’t remember everything? Now that my sons are grown, since they can’t
remember everything, I can only hope they remember the good feelings that the things we did for them brought in that
moment so many years ago. If they don’t
remember the actual events, I can only hope they remember the feeling.
Frank and
I went to the Magic of Christmas with our friends this year. How the show has changed! Now it included the Windham Chamber Singers
and an incredible illusionist. We had
attended the Deering High School Christmas Concert earlier in the week which we
think is just about the best thing….but when the PSO began to play, it took my
breath away. Yes, they’re a lot
different than high school. Hearing live
classical music by talented musicians, especially Christmas music, transports
me to a place far, far away. It can
bring me to tears.
This year
felt different to me, in a positive way.
Maybe it’s my increased gratefulness of all things as I age; maybe it’s
appreciating more what others bring to our society by means of beauty, color,
music, warmth; maybe it’s my increased understanding of what community
means.
When
conductor Robert Moody paused to give tribute to the recent shooting of an
elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut and then said let us be the light, I could feel that the audience already held
that thought before he even said it. I
could feel such a sense from the audience of happiness to be right there, in
such a beautiful, historical arena, among the people of their community at this
most blessed time of year.
Collectively,
the entire auditorium sang, laughed, clapped, paused amongst the bustle of our
holidays for a few hours in the dark letting ourselves be swept away and
dazzled. The audience was magical that
night. Truly, I could feel the positive
energy all around me. Whatever we each
brought to that auditorium to make us magic can only come from good; it can
only come from letting us be the
light.
Photo: courtesy of Frank Kalicky
