Dear Friends and Family,
I love the Christmas season—the sweaters (some better than others), the food, giving and receiving gifts, and all the little traditions that sneak their way into our lives each year. But if I’m being honest, my favorite part of Christmas has always been the music.
I grew up with a slightly different soundtrack in our house. Most kids heard the same Christmas songs on repeat. I grew up hearing new ones, because my dad is a songwriter. That meant Christmas music that was often still being written, revised, or tested out somewhere between the living room piano and the washing the dishes in the kitchen.
I’m excited to share one of his songs with you—a song I first started playing last year and ended up playing at every show on our recent tour (which is usually the sign that a song has really taken hold of me). It tells the truth of something small being born and slowly becoming something big—quiet beginnings, growing hope, and the way God seems to work best through what first looks insignificant.
I hope this song finds you in a good moment this season—maybe with a warm drink in your hand, a slightly questionable sweater on your body, and music playing a little louder than necessary.
Merry Christmas,
— Trailand
A New World ‘Wakens | Lyrics
Lyric and Music by Douglas Eltzroth
Lighted windows flicker off to sleep
Children’s giggles drift into the night
Herdsmen bed their cattle
Shepherds count their sheep
Birds hush their singing
Mothers hum their lullabies
A hawk circles over old friends
Just reacquainted with old times
An olive leave falls to a moonlit stream
Bethlehem hangs up her clothes puts on her dreams
REFRAIN
Angels comfort frightened shepherds
A star burns brightly in the sky
The sun moves upward
The horizon blinks and stretches
And a new world ‘wakens to a baby’s cry
Yes, a new world ‘wakens to a baby’s cry
Western sky has lost its color now
The doors are locked the windows barred
The evening prayers have all grown silent now
The outside lamppost casts dark shadows on the yard
Two young lovers end their kissing
A tired grandpa starts to snore
The eldest son has banked the fire coals
Bethlehem tucks in her weariness once more
REFAIN
37 Days of Christmas 