No other season of the year evokes the range of emotions associated with the celebration of Christmas. Joy, gratitude, hope, anticipation, wonder, nostalgia, and even sadness are just a few of the things we feel at various times during this special season. Though music is central to the holiday, no single carol or hymn or song can capture the many moods of Christmas because our perceptions of Christmas are often influenced by events that have happened during past Christmas seasons. Years ago our family recorded an album of Christmas songs written by me, our son Steve, and our daughter Lynne, which reflect a wide range of emotions that have been experienced by our family during the Christmas season. I hope one or more of them may trigger a memory of Christmases past for some of you also.
Steve wrote the title song for the album, “Holiday of the Heart” which is filled with warm and nostalgic memories which most of us have experienced during the Christmases of our lives, and ending with these comforting words, “Christmas nearly puts all the world at peace. It teaches of a love divine that reaches down through time and touches me—my very favorite Christmas memory.”
Listen to the song here
A Holiday of the Heart
(written and sung by Steven Kapp Perry)
I love Christmas memories,
Pajamas from Grandma and candy canes on the tree,
Manger scenes in angel hair,
And packages from ev’rywhere you know,
All wrapped up and aglow.
Together there on Christmas eve,
A time to remember Decembers the years have seen.
Smell the pine and gingerbread,
And someone builds a fire against the cold,
It wraps us in its glow.
Chorus
Christmas is a holiday of the heart,
We start to leave the world behind,
And no one minds the cold for a few short days.
Christmas nearly puts all the world at peace,
It teaches of a love divine
That reaches down through time and touches me–
My very favorite Christmas memory.
The best of al these memories,
A babe in a manger, a stranger who would be King,
A love beyond all reason
That stays although the seasons come and go.
It wraps me in its glow.
Repeat Chorus
The best of ev’ry Christmas memory.
One December experience in 1968 forever affected our family’s emotional response to the Christmas season. Our joy at this season has, since that time, been tinged with a bit of melancholy but also great hope. Our fifth and final child, Richard, was born during the Christmas season and passed away the next day from complications of Rh-factor. Family and friends gathered around us lending their strength and testimony as we held our other four children a little closer and prayed to feel peace. Christmas had no commercial overtones for us that year. We were poor students in graduate school and just immersed ourselves in the love of our family, thankful for our knowledge of future eternal joys.
Listen to the song here
My Heart Sang a Lullaby
(Written by Janice Kapp Perry / Sung by Lynne Perry Christofferson)
Richie was born on a day in December
I know it was Sunday, some things you remember
Richie’s first cries were like music to me
But no one could promise how long he would stay
And the night seemed so long
As we watched him and prayed
Chorus
And my heart sang a lullaby to celebrate birth
As he crossed the veil between heaven and earth
My heart sang a lullaby for this tiny one
A song of forever, of things yet to come
Just a lullaby to carry him home
Richie was gone by the light of the morning
Before his first sunrise, before the day’s dawning
So still in our arms, it was our turn to cry
A memorized moment as we said good-bye
And he looked like an angel
In his blanket of white
Repeat Chorus
Richie, my son, only here for a moment
He came, and he went, and the world didn’t notice
But nothing’s the same, especially for me
Eternity’s promise is clearer to see
He has just gone ahead
To where I’ll someday be
Repeat Chorus
Yes, a lullaby to carry him home.
Imagine our joy nearly twenty years later when we learned that our first grandchild was due to be born on Christmas Day. Of course babies rarely arrive on their due date but just anticipating a December birth was exciting. Then, at 7 a.m. Christmas Day the call came from our son Robb saying, “We’re at the hospital and they’re not sending us home!” Finally we received the call at 3 p.m. that little Jessica Noelle had arrived. We shed tears of happiness as we saw her through the nursery window, au naturale, kicking and crying and looking strangely familiar. Her very name suggested a Christmas Calypso which I later wrote.
Listen to the song here
Jessica Noelle
(Written by Janice Kapp Perry / Sung by Deanna Edwards)
One Christmas morning we still recall
Came to us the best gift of all
Our son called early that joyous morn
To say our first grandchild would be born
We opened presents from Santa Claus
Light with laughter and joy because
We were waiting so happily
Wondering who the baby would be
And she was . . .
Chorus
Jessica Noelle!
Christmas angel from heaven fell
Jessica Noelle!
A Christmas story we love to tell
Light the Christmas tree, ring the bell
Welcome little Jessie Noelle!
We traveled quickly that wint’ry day
To the place where the baby lay
We looked in wonder, we gazed in awe
At the little stranger we saw
They placed the baby within our arms
Tears were falling now, soft and warm
No one can measure, no words can tell
Of the perfect love that we felt
As we held . .
Repeat Chorus
Our Christmas angel was born to earth
The day we celebrate Jesus’ birth
And through the years we will all recall
The most merry Christmas of all
With little . . .
Repeat Chorus
Another happy season for our family occurred when our son Steve, after what he called “a whirlwind 7- year courtship,” married his long-time friend, Johanne Frechette in the Provo temple.
This event brought a special joy to our family and inspired me to write a song especially for them. Steve and Johanne were more than willing to be the vocalists on the song, “First Christmas in Love.”
Listen to the song here
First Christmas in Love
(Written by Janice Kapp Perry)
(Sung by Steven Kapp Perry & Johanne Frechette Perry)
Are the lights a little brighter this year?
Is the snow a little whiter this year?
Is the glow from the fireplace as soft as it seems?
It wraps me with happiness, fills me with dreams
Is my step a little quicker this year?
Is my heart a little bigger this year?
Maybe nothing has changed, but it seems so because
It’s my first Christmas in love
There is magic in the music this year
There is joy in every carol I hear
All the sweet Christmas feelings, the sights and the sounds
Are somehow more wonderful this time around
Is my smile a little brighter this year?
Is the world a little righter this year?
Maybe nothing has changed, but it seems so because
It’s my first Christmas in love
All the wonders of Christmas have been there before
But this year it seems to mean so much more
It’s our first Christmas in love
It’s the best Christmas that ever was!
Through the years we’ll remember this season because
It was our first Christmas in love
Spoken: Isn’t that the mistletoe?
In 1989, Steve told Lynne and me about an Intermountain Songwriting Contest and suggested that the three of us should each enter a song, but Lynne and I never got around to it.
Then a few months later Lynne received notification that she had won First Place in the contest which is judged first in individual states with final judging in Nashville. Lynne told them there must be some mistake because she had not entered the contest. They asked, “Do you know a Steven Kapp Perry—he must have entered for you?” Lynne was dumbfounded. She was told that there were 344 entries from 21 states and that her song had won First Place, with the choice of a large cash prize or the chance to attend songwriting workshops free in Nashville. She learned that Steve had believed in her song enough to enter the contest for her and had paid her entry fee. It was quite the exciting time for our family. We all knew Lynne had written a very special Christmas song and we were also touched by her brother’s love in entering the contest for her.
Listen to the song here
He Was a Shepherd Too
(Written by Lynne Perry Christofferson/Sung by Felicia Sorensen)
On a lonely night in Bethlehem
Certain shepherds left their fields
To behold a tiny child
Which an angel had revealed
I have thought about those shepherds
And I wonder if they knew
That the child that they had come to see
Would be a shepherd too.
Just as they cared for their lambs
He would gently lead His own
And carry them within His arms
And would bring them safely home
He would be the greatest shepherd
Oh I wonder if they knew
That the child that they had come to see
Would be a shepherd too
Trav’ling from a distant country
Wisemen came with gifts of gold
To behold a tiny child
Which the prophets had foretold
I have thought about those wisemen
And I wonder if they knew
That the child that they had come to see
Would be a wiseman too
Just as they offered wisdom
He would humbly share His own
And give the world the teaching
That would bring them safely home
He would be the greatest wiseman
Oh I wonder if they knew
That the child that they had come to see
Would be a wiseman too
As the bearer of salvation
He would be the King of Kings
The long-foretold Messiah
Come with healing in His wings
Yes, a wiseman and a shepherd
Come to die for me and you
Do we understand the baby came
To be the Savior too
We hope our family Christmas songs will add to your enjoyment during this holiday season. I don’t usually break out the Christmas music quite this soon, but by the time you hear from me again in December on Meridian, Christmas will be upon us. I love the Christmas season and especially the music that accompanies it!
Janice Kapp Perry: Composer, author, lecturer
Janice’s Christmas albums can be found here on her website
The song “My Heart Sang a Lullaby” is available on the album “There Will Be Light” found here on her website.
