Sitting at the window, looking out on the snowy forest behind her house, Judith sighed deeply, feeling the coldness in her heart and soul. Tears flowed down her face and tumbled from her chin unto her bed. She felt as though no one in the world cared for her, not one living soul. Her parents had stopped calling or even trying to help her, scared that the darkness that engulfed her was contagious.
She had tried everything, so many different pills and treatments, but still the darkness kept descending each day. No amount of talking to doctors who had much book knowledge but no actual experiences with what she had seen and endured in wartime seemed to break through the numbness. She could not seem to connect her heart and soul to anyone or anything. So, the darkness kept winning.
That night, a feeling came over her, almost like a soft wind had passed through the room, and she found herself lying on the floor, her hands stretched toward the heavens, her mouth open and praying to the God she had stopped believing in. She heard herself say, “Help me, Lord. Only you can!”
Suddenly, she felt compelled to get up and search for the Christmas CDs that her parents had sent her last year from which she had never even removed the wrappings. In a near frenzied state, she ran to the den, and she started throwing everything out of what she called her “junk” drawer, looking for the compact discs.
When she found them, she took the packages to her computer, took the wrappings off, and slid the first one into the CD drive. She was surprised to hear her favorite childhood heroes, Alvin and the Chipmunks, singing Christmas songs!
As Alvin, Simon, and Theodore sung the songs on Chipmunks Christmas, including Here Comes Santa Claus, Jingle Bells, All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth, and other Christmas favorites of hers, she started to giggle! Then, Judith started to dance!
First she moved in very tentative steps, for it had been years since she had danced. But, as the music continued, she began to twirl and jump and shimmy across the floor. For hours, she played the music and danced and laughed uproariously at the silliness of some of the words.
Then, she played the second CD, one that included the Christmas hymns of her childhood, Silent Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Joy to the World, and Jesus, Jesus, Oh What a Wonderful Child, among others. And as she allowed the music to enter into her soul and the words to enter into her heart, she felt a weight lift from inside her bosom, and she knew that her life was changed.
She thought back to a Bible verse that she had learned as a little girl, that of John 1:4-5: “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” The darkness was gone; however, she knew that it would return. But, she also knew that she now had other resources, music and dancing, to add to those she already utilized to help dispel it.
Looking at the world by glorious starlight, she sighed heavily once again, but this time in delight and thankfulness. Feeling exhilarated, she picked up her phone and called her parents. When her mother answered the phone, she was flabbergasted to hear her daughter say, “Mama, I called to wish you and Daddy a very Merry Christmas and a joyous new year.” What joy filled each of their hearts!
Ragtag prompt is Sing. Your Daily Prompt is Exhilaration. Written for the Daily Writing Prompt from The Haunted Wordsmith: chipmunk, starlight, and snowy forest.
Help from Heaven 
This is just beautiful…so well written and I had forgot about Alvin and the chipmunks.
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Thank you. I used to love them. As a child, they were so cool, with those weird voices. But, I envied them having Dave in their lives, because I did not have a father in my life.
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