Written by Julie MacNeil from the Village Church.
I was 5 years old, very shy, and rarely spoke in front of the class. But one December morning in 1950, in my kindergarten classroom, I stepped up to a microphone, and said, “Merry Christmas, Mother and Daddy! I am going to sing a song for you. This is Julie.” I sang “There’s a Song in the Air.” Our teacher, in what was a fairly unusual occurrence at the time, made recordings of the voice of each child in our class and had them made into records, the vinyl variety! They were 78 rpm records, even though they were about the size of a 45. Each record was tucked into a little red envelope, made out of red construction paper and decorated with a Christmas drawing by the kindergarteners, given as gifts to our parents. That record became my mother’s treasure. She played it over and over, until our record player stopped working. It was then put back into its little red envelope with my drawing of Santa, and tucked safely away in her cedar chest, where she kept baby books, baby shoes, curls from my brother’s first haircut, and other treasures from our childhood. I did not hear that record of my childish voice again for many years. It wasn’t until my mother had passed away at age 96, that I opened her cedar chest and saw among her treasures that little faded red construction paper envelope. The record inside was still in one piece. I took it home with me and stored it as safely as I could, but I had no way to play it, until recently when I was able to find a small record player which played all speeds – 33, 45, and 78. The record did not play perfectly, but it brought back that morning in my kindergarten classroom, where I sang my first and only solo! Was it the voice of a budding diva? No, it was the voice of a little girl, singing with all her heart about a mother, and a baby lying in a manger, who would be our Savior. I heard “There’s a Song in the Air” recently in a church service. Memory clutched at my heart, my throat swelled and tears spilled out of my eyes. I will always love that song from a Christmas so long ago, but I don’t think I will ever be able to hear it without a lump in my throat! Here’s a link to the original recording: https://youtu.be/0YY2i1kPSCA.
There’s a song in the air! There’s a star in the sky! There’s a mother’s deep prayer and a baby’s low cry! And the star rains its fire while the beautiful sing. For the manger of Bethlehem cradles a King!
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