"Come and behold him
Christ the king of angels
Oh come let us adore him
Oh come let us adore him
Oh come let us adore him
Christ the lord....
Amidst the wild jingling of bells, the almost silent ticking the enormous wall clock our explicit distinguishable voices rang out. The weather was chilly cold. Having the early morning snowfall make the environment so freezing. It was Christmas and the whole of Los Angeles, California glittered in green and red.
As soon as I got up that morning, I wished mum ,dad,and my younger brother, Elijah a merry Christmas. We got ready for church and drove off. Well, it happened that the teenagers club had a presentation that very day and that was one reason I had to be really early.
I sang with all my heart or rather from the depth of my heart as our co-ordinator instructed. I loved the way he did his function. He had split us into subgroups bases on our voice classification -alto, tenor,soprano and bass. Even though most of the females were soprano, I was naturally an alto. Mom had constantly said that it was the best singing voice but I doubted her.I thought she was saying not to make me feel bad. Not to make me feel left out, probably.
As I let out the melody from my lips through my vocal, my eyes lingered around. First to my right hand side, my eyes locked with Sarah's. I grinned as soon as she did and then, looked away. Sarah was a good friend of mine and we attended the same school coincidentally. Sarah had deep blue eyes that glittered when she smiled or laughed. When her eyes behaved that way, it reminded me of the deep blue North sea that shone when sun rays met it and reflected. Adjusting my gaze to the congregation and I was staring at my family. My parents felt relaxed and proud. The same way they did when I received an award in school for being the best student. Elijah only smiled and had his thumbs upwards. The rest of the audience just seemed to listen keenly and watch as if nothing else matters than our song presentation. Their faces did not give a discouraging remark. Their expressions were like that of people who had bought a ticket to a cinema and were currently watching a very interesting drama series.
Everything came to a halt at once. The keyboard gradually played in low keys. Our voices stopped in a quite melody. Almost simultaneously, the crowd rose to their feet giving us a thunderous ovation. Icl could trace the smile that ran across mum and dad's face . More evidently on Elijah's.
The church service was over. People trooped out individually. Some in groups. I held dad's hand by the left while Elijah stood between mum and dad holding onto both. I wanted to feel the warmth of dad's hand that could possibly enclose mine but the gloves I had on prevented it. How unfortunate.
Soon afterwards, it grew noisy as some threw seasonal greetings to one another.
"Merry Christmas!" One yelled.
A few clasped hands together while the rest embraced happily. In a while there were fireworks in the sky and I heard loud screams of joy from kids. I had only discovered I was lost in the show when dad nudged me lightly on the shoulder signaling for us to get home.
"Maria, you performed so well." That was the first statement that broke the silence as we got into the car. In the usual manner, dad was driving while mum sat beside him. Elijah and I sat behind together.
"Thanks mum." She turned to me
her hands and properly dressing my beanie.
"I loved your performance. " dad inserted the car key into the keyhole. The car came alive as dad turned on the ignition. " I'm so proud of you."
I couldn't stop myself from grinning. "Thank you, dad. "
I tilted my head to look at Elijah who preferred to whisper his own comments into my ears.
"Big sis, you're the best."
I smiled again as I moved my head to face the sunrise and its rays stretch out across the window reaching beyond it.
"Sunrays of Christmas." I blurted out under my breath.