Journal
entry: Christmas Eve, 1995
I
have been in America for ten years now. Guillame just turned nine last month,
Jean-Charles turned six in May, and Eric will be four next month.
I
am trying to teach the boys Christmas carols in my language, they took after
their father and the city more easily in their English, and don’t care much for
French. Hopefully they will grow out of this phase.
I
remembered my favourite carol as a child; I would sing it with my family and my
mother as always was off-key. My dear husband, Thomas, insists on singing this
in English, but I will believe until my dying day that the song is better in
French. I think I should write what it literally means in English, in case my
sons were to read this later and still not have learned my language.
Les anges dans nos campagnes
Ont entonné l'hymne des cieux
Et l'écho de nos montagnes
Redit ce chant mélodieux
Gloria in excelsis Déo! (bis)
The angels in our fields
Started singing the heavenly hymn
And the echo of our mountains
Repeat this melodious song.
Glory to God in the Highest!
(repeat)
Bergers, pour qui cette fête
Quel est l'objet de tous ces chants ?
Quel vainqueur, quelle conquête
Mérite ces cris triomphants ?
Gloria in excelsis Déo! (bis)
Shepherds, for whom this party
What is the point of all these songs?
Which victor, which conquest
Merits these triumphant cries?
Glory to God in the Highest!
(repeat)
Il est né, le Dieu de gloire
Terre, tressaille de bonheur
Que tes hymnes de victoire
Chantent, célèbrent ton sauveur !
Gloria in excelsis Déo! (bis)
He is born, the God of glory
Land, shakes with joy
That your hymns of victory
Sing, celebrate your savior!
Glory to God in the Highest!
(repeat)
From
this song, and others, I had always pictured our Savior’s birth as glorious,
mighty, bright, loud and nearly chaotic with everything that seems depicted
inside a small stable. It wasn’t until Thomas sang his favourite carol that
made me realize how simple the Lord’s birth truly was. I had heard the same
song growing up, but somehow the meaning got lost in the translation, as many
things often do. But the reality finally hit me and it makes me cry every time:
the remembrance that Jesus lived a perfectly human life, to the eyes who didn’t
know it, he was just a baby - just like any other baby. And it’s filled with the
Christmas spirit, all neatly wrapped up in three verses: why we even give gifts
in the first place, and that in our faith, we are to spend every day giving our
best to God. That is what brings Him joy.
Come, they told me
A newborn king to see
Our finest gifts we bring
To lay before the king
So, to honor Him
When we come
Little baby
I am a poor boy too
I have no gifts to bring
That's fit to give a king
Shall I play for you
On my drum?
Mary nodded
The ox and lamb kept time
I played my drum for Him
I played my best for Him
Then, He smiled at me
Me and my drum
-Aimee
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