The Red 78

As Tim poured over the internet in search of Christmas gifts, he discovered my last blog about Burl Ives.  A comment on my Facebook page spoke of someone who had Ives' Christmas music at one time on a “red 78.”  Puzzled, he asked me what sort of device a “red 78” would be.  I explained records were an ancient technology he had never seen.  I told him of the wonders of vinyl pressed into 78s, 45s, and 33s.  James, the youngest, listened with careful ears to my explanation to Tim, then announced he knew what the numbers meant. “They are how much memory each record disc could hold.”  There is a mystery to Christmas, which is unwrapped in its own wonder, just as my boys wondered about records.  

The whole story is mysterious.  Visitations by angels, magi from the East, a wicked King who hates babies, and a Virgin holding her own child.  Today we sing carols, put up trees, and gives gifts while the mystery of the holiday remains in the background.  We know the external trappings, but the heart of Christmas eludes our celebration.

Most 78 records had a single song to a side.  There wasn't much memory, but to grasp the core of Christmas doesn't take much.  C.S. Lewis summed up the mystery of Christmas this way: “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God.”