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The Spirits of
Christmas
By Elizabeth Horner
Sometimes during the heat of summer, I’ll hum a few bars of “Jingle
Bells” or “Silent Night” to myself. It’s never by design, and I’ll
switch over to a pop or country song as soon as I realize how off-key I
am … or I get this little embarrassing feeling of how off-season I’m
being but the words will still cycle through my head: Dashing through
the snow… making spirits bright. What fun it is to ride and sing a
sleighing song tonight.
Just when I think I have about exhausted singing the same verses over
and over again, then a familiar chorus comes over the television, our
car radio, airwaves in shopping centers, and sometimes someone in front
or behind me in a line will start singing under his/her breath… and I
am there, doing it right along with the person. It’s not the
music that’s infectious but rather the feeling of being free and merry.
For a few precious days around the Christmas Season, the world appears
to lessen or avoid their squabbles and focus on their faith, buying and
giving gifts for their loved ones, preparing scrumptious meals for
family and friends. Silent Night, Holy Night. All is calm, all is
bright. However, reality bursts in far too quickly. As everyone
returns to work and school, faces washed of their easy smiles…, we call
the holiday season officially over. Songs are replaced mostly by lyrics
about finding love, handling heartbreaks, or surviving struggles.
Hardly anyone recalls Santa Claus though he sees you when you’re
sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows when you’ve been bad or
good, so be good for goodness sake!
It seems a tragedy that just because we’ve allocated a certain time to
counting our blessings and checking them twice, we think we’ve been
given a license to forget the rest of the year. The pacts we make not
to argue with one another over petty issues break by the time the
decorations are put away. Why? Who says we have to give up the
Christmas spirit at all? I understand that it is hard to be optimistic
in times of economic, political or family turmoil, but that should give
us all the more reason to fight for the precious unattainable diamond
that is… hope…and love…. We conjure it up as we linger under
mistletoe or bend to open a present, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do
the same in June, July, and August while waiting for a cooling breeze.
So the next time I sense a Christmas carol lingering on my lips,
forgive me if I don’t try to squelch the impulse. I don’t see those
lyrics as out of place. Happy Christmas, Epic Holidays, Blissful
and Merry New Year to all … let’s allow tidings of comfort and joy all
year round!!!
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