Christmas, that is. Sometimes it is when you find the perfect gift for someone you love and you bring it home and wrap it up carefully and hide it. Other years it is the moment that you hang the last decoration on the tree and stand back and turn the lights on. It's come for you. Happiness breaks over you in brilliant, prismatic splendor.
All finite things dissolve, the horizons of the earth roll back, the firmament immeasurably deepens.
Most years, for me, Christmas comes in a moment of song. There is nothing quite like music when it comes to evoking the spirit of Christmas. Transforming the season into something magical, bringing festive warmth and cheer - music has always played an essential part in my holidays. It may be the day the radio stations begin playing Christmas songs, or the first clear note raised to a starry sky when caroling on a cold December night, or perhaps the first strain of Handel's Messiah coming from a church choir at a candle-lit service. Whatever it is, in that moment I can hear that strange music which falls upon the inner ear at this time of year, all the voices of all the angels sing in my head, and every beat of every heart resounds in mine.