Both are lovely things to do, and certainly make you feel like Christmas is nearly here. Yet both for me to-day have touched the emotions.
The Carol Concert at school is held each year in the Church that is attached to the school. It is a traditional church with beautiful stained glass windows and the sound of the school children singing echoes in the true old fashioned way round the walls. As 'Joy to the World' was sung out (and Ellie was in prime front row spot) I couldn't help feeling nostalgic, as to-day was the final carol concert I will attend at the junior school. In September Ellie moves to secondary school, and after 11 years of faithfully turning up to the Christmas concert this was my last year. Memories of dashing from work to get there on time come to mind, chatting and giggling with friends, but most of all the moment when your child catches your eye and beams with pride that you are there to watch them have made these occasions worthwhile. To-day was the last.
This evening, was the carols with the piano teacher. Ellie is just learning, and can now play basic tunes. Tonight, sitting on the sofa listening to Ellie play made me cry. My Mum played piano, and loved to hear Ellie play, she was so pleased she was learning. At home Ellie sits on the same piano stool that my Mum used to sit on, which still has some of her music in the drawer underneath the stool. I wished my Mum could have been there to hear Ellie play, she would have loved it, it would have made her so happy. It is these moments when the gap of my mum dying is still painful, the grief still hurts. In yet I am so proud too; as the family tradition of playing piano has skipped a generation to her grand daughter, so the legacy lives on. On Sunday Ellie will play her first carol in church, and I know it will be another moment of mixed emotion.
So here if you listen very carefully is 'O Come All you Faithful', you need the volume up real loud, but it's worth it.
Jane
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