Do You Hear What I Hear?
My husband is an amateur photographer and loves taking pictures with his Nikon camera. To hone his skills and hang out with like minded folks, Ron joined a photography club. During a recent meeting, each member was given a prop to use in a photo, which will be critiqued at their next meeting. Ron’s prop was an ear trumpet. Ear trumpets were designed to collect sound and funnel it to the ear and predated modern hearing aids by hundreds of years.
Ron wasn’t sure how he was going to use this prop until we spent one recent day decorating our home for Christmas. As he placed this not-yet-ancient but nevertheless old Santa atop the pot shelf, an idea dawned.
We have a lot more Nativity sets than Santa’s displayed at Christmastime, but I love this little decoration, which was on display in my childhood home. Mom and Dad grew up during the Great Depression when there was barely enough money to put food on family tables, let alone give gifts. My parents worked hard to make Christmas a special time for their four kids, and it has always been my favorite time of each year.
The story of Jesus was always foremost while growing up, and I’ve continued to make the arrival of Immanuel—“God with us”—the focal point. For me, however, fun traditions like Santa enhance not only happy memories but add a sprinkle of Jesus-joy to this special time.
When I saw Ron’s photo of our little Santa listening through the ear trumpet, my thoughts traveled immediately to the modern Christmas song, Do You Hear What I Hear, which was written by Noël Regney and his wife as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the early 1960’s.
This sweet song begins with the “night wind” asking a little lamb if he can see the star “with a tail as big as a kite” in the nighttime sky.
In turn, the lamb asks a shepherd boy if he can hear the song “high above the trees with a voice as big as the sea.”
Then, the lowly shepherd boy speaks to the mighty king, safe and warm in his great palace, asking, “Do you know what I know” about a child who deserves silver and gold and yet “shivers in the cold?”
The king listens to that little shepherd boy and decrees to “people everywhere, Listen to what I say! Pray for peace” because the sleeping child “will bring us goodness and light.”
Back to that somewhat tacky Santa with white plastic boots and soiled beard, which is simply a tradition evoking happy memories.
The ear horn is merely an antiquated hearing device now serving as a prop. The Christmas song pleas for peace in our war weary world feels impossibly elusive.
But that child who on a long-ago morning may have “shivered in the cold” in a lowly manger. Aww, that child—“Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6-7); the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 1:5); the Savior, seated at the right hand of the Throne of God (Hebrews 12:2), praying for you, for me, and for all those we love. (Romans 8:34). Oh, my!
Do you hear what I hear?
Blessings as you listen for the sounds of this holy season!
Painting of the Nativity in the Vatican Museum we visited in May 2023.