"Silent Night" is My Family's Favorite Christmas Song

"Silent Night" is my family's all-time favorite Christmas song. Here is a little history of the song. "Silent Night" was first sung in a church on Christmas Eve 1818 in German and at that time the original name was "Stille Nacht". It was written by Father Josef Mohr. There are many rumors about the creation of the song but the main fable is that the song was written to be played specifically by guitar because the organ at the church was broken and the Father was afraid that there would be no Christmas music in the church if he did not write something that could be played by other instruments. Franz X. Gruber wrote the sheet music after Father Mohr came to him and presented "Silent Night's" lyrics and his ideas for the music for the song. The lyrics that Father Mohr wrote were changed through the years. There is no real documentation of how or why the song came about. This song is so popular that almost every language has a version. It has one of the most purest lyrics and sound. I guess you could say that "Silent Night' is very universal as a Christmas song amongst religions.
What "Silent Night" means to me and my family is hope and love. The song's lyrics is talking about how people were feeling when they saw the baby Jesus for the first time. The lyrics talk about how they felt that the baby was blessed from heaven and that they baby was going to be special. Just listening to the song you could picture a manger with a mother looking over her child and a crowd of Shepard's looking in with the moon shining brightly and a clear sky. My family sings the song on Christmas eve and hovers around the piano while singing. This song was always our grandfather's favorite song and he started this tradition when his children were little. We still do it today 20 years after his death. It stands not only as tradition for us but it also reminds us of my mother and grandfather who have passed on. In my family it would not be Christmas if this song was not played. I remember as a little girl hearing this song and thinking it was the prettiest Christmas song ever. Sure there are plenty of Christmas songs out there and yes I have some other favorite Christmas songs but none hold as many memories that "Silent Night" does.