published December 22, 2011
in the Stockton Sentinel
Stockton, Kansas
As I write
this on Sunday evening, we have just returned from my family Christmas get-together
this weekend in our small home town of Goessel. The gathering included my
parents, my four brothers and their families, and my sons and their families.
By a quick count, there were 43 of us together and 10 who could not make it. There
was a tiny new baby for everyone to meet and a one-year-old from Alaska who
most of us had never seen except by pictures. We already knew of two babies on
the way, but then learned of two more who are expecting. What a wonderful day
of picture taking, baby watching, visiting and, of course, eating. Like many
families, we are scattered around the country and obviously aren’t able to get
together too often, which makes these rare occasions very special.
Since Bob
and I have already “gone home for Christmas,” we will miss being in our home
church for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services. The Christmas Eve service
in our home church of Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church continues to be a
wonderful tradition that hopefully will continue for many more generations to
come. The program is always presented by the children through songs and little
plays or skits, and a highlight is the “volunteer numbers,” where children go
forward and line up on the stage, waiting for their turn to take the microphone
and recite a special memorized piece, sing or play a song. Much coaching by
parents is required to help prepare for the moment, but no amount of coaching
can ensure that it will actually happen once the little ones get on the stage
in front of an audience. You learn a lot about a little kid during their moment
in the spotlight.
Another
major tradition at the Christmas Eve service is that all kids get a small brown
paper sack when the program is over, and inside the sack they will find
peanuts, an orange or an apple, and maybe a smaller paper sack with some small
pieces of chocolate.
Mennonites
don’t wager, but if I did, I’d bet that if you were to ask anyone who has grown
up in the Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church what is the most memorable tradition
of the Christmas Eve service, they would tell you it is the singing of “Nun Ist
Sie Erschienen” at the close of the service. Even for those of us who don’t
speak German, the singing – in German – of this carol is one of the most
important ingredients in our Christmas feast of memories. The carol is also
sung traditionally at many family Christmas gatherings, as it was in my Goertzen
family get-togethers when my grandparents were still with us. That’s where I
learned to sing the song so well, singing it in German even though I had no
idea what I was singing. Grandma Goertzen died on Christmas Eve, and I believe
she was singing carols – including “Nun Ist Sie Erschienen” – in heaven that
year and ever since.
My youngest
brother and I talked about it this weekend, that we would both miss being in Alexanderwohl
this Christmas Eve, and that we would again miss the tradition of singing “Nun
Ist Sie Erschienen.” We laughed about his childhood version of the words, how
when everyone sang “Darum trocknet die Thränen und jauchzet vor Wonne,” he used
to think we were singing about “tractors and trailers and combines and balers.”
I’ve probably
mentioned it a time or two in this column, but I don’t apologize for saying it
again: my greatest joy of the Christmas
season is found in the music of the season. Like many of you, I have favorite
carols and it would be difficult to say my absolute favorite. But of all the
carols, none tugs at my heartstrings as much as “Nun Ist Sie Erschienen.”
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