There Were the Angels

All day long and everywhere Muzak has been blaring carols. Now by this garish lobby tree my tired ears catch in excelsis Deo! and suddenly I'm a little girl again, knotted excitement sending my toes dancing outside our parlor doors. Inside, Mother's voice and the piano begin: Angels we have heard on high And Father flings wide the double doors. The evergreen shines with a hundred white candles and the star at the tip beams a 2000-year radiance. I feel my eyes reflect a miracle knowing throughout my being a multitude of the heavenly host, white robed, with heads of flame, are singing in my mother's voice, Gloria!