Late-Night Alleluias

Through the years, people have asked my parents - neither of whom are musically inclined - where Theophilus and I got our talents in music. I attribute them to the hours we were forced to practice when we didn't feel like it. However, now we both love music and aren't forced to pursue bettering ourselves. When we first were contacted about fostering Lance and Harrison, one of the first things I remember the social worker saying was that we'd like Lance because he loved music.
As a family, we try to have devotions on a regular basis, but don't always succeed. In our hymnals, it calls for the singing of a hymn before the reading of Scripture, and usually everyone groans and it is a painful process. However, last night, after the end of devotions, I began playing "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" and singing by myself. Lance piped up that it was one of his favourite hymns, and he and Theophilus joined me in singing.
This ended up with Mum, Dad, Theophilus and Lance standing around me while all of us were singing. It didn't matter if we didn't always know the song, or if we were changing which hymnal we were working with, or anything really. Mostly, it had to be old, and usually minor (if Theophilus or I had much to say about it. As the pianist, I did have much to say). Finally, nearly midnight, our voices began to give out and I believe we'd been singing for about two hours by that point.
I began thinking shortly afterwards about how sad it is that we don't sing some of the older songs in church on Sundays. Some of them were several hundred years old, had gorgeous melodies and meaningful words. Mum said that some Christians now-a-days wouldn't like how much the words challenged easy faith. My family, especially my brother and I, have a love for the older traditions. My thoughts soon turned on how I might introduce some of the older things back into our church. Perhaps, just perhaps, my family including my parents, might become a more musical family and sing together - with some practice like when I was little - and sing at church. Whatever comes of late-night singing and inspirations, I still have the ringing "Alleluias" in my mind.