"Christmas Tonight"

"While I am writing this, I listen to the sound of the bells in the nearby St. Theresita's Church playing - of all things - 'Hark the Herald Angels Sing.' We are in Caracas, Venezuela, on a concert tour through South America, and the words of Phillips Brooks come to my mind:"

Christmas in the lands of the fir tree and pine;
Christmas in lands of the palm tree and vine;
Christmas where snow peaks stand solemn and white;
Christmas where corn fields lie sunny and bright;
Everywhere, everywhere, Christmas tonight.

- Maria Augusta Trapp, 1950, the Trapp Family Songbook