our musical advent calendar, day 01

Inspired by Pinterest, I wanted to do an advent calendar. And inspired by Advent Conspiracy, I wanted to make it about presence, not presents. Ian had a brilliant idea to use music. We each picked out some of our favorite Christmas songs and will be counting down together with festive tunes and the fond memories attached to each of them. And what better way to share our yuletide adventure with friends and family than here on the blog?

day 01. "I Celebrate the Day" - Relient K, Deck the Halls, Bruise Your Hand

I acquired this Relient K Christmas album thanks to my brother Nathan's couple years of super-fandom. As you may have guessed from the album title, they carried their quirky yet insightful signature songwriting into the holidays. I appreciate the punk versions of classics (ex. "12 Days of Christmas"), as well as the humor in their original songs (ex. "Santa Clause is Thumbing to Town"), but the song that rockets to the top of my Christmas list is "I Celebrate the Day." It connects Christmas and Easter in a way that never before had occurred to me, highlighting the juxtaposition of divinity and humanity. And it reminds me that Christmas isn’t about a sweet little baby in a manger, but about a Savior on a cross who, knowing all our failures, still chose to come and rescue us.

— Anna

And with this Christmas wish is missed
The point I could convey
If only I could find the words to say to let You know how much You've touched my life
Because here is where You're finding me, in the exact same place as New Year's eve
And from a lack of my persistency
We're less than half as close as I want to be

And the first time
That You opened Your eyes did You realize that You would be my Savior
And the first breath that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever

And so this Christmas I'll compare the things I felt in prior years
To what this midnight made so clear
That You have come to meet me here

To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me
In the hope that what You did
That you were born so I might live
To look back and think that
This baby would one day save me

And the first time
That You opened Your eyes did You realize that You would be my Savior
And the first breath that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever

And I, I celebrate the day
That You were born to die
So I could one day pray for You to save my life
pray for You to save my life
pray for You to save my life