Where are you Christmas?
Faith Hill (“Where are you Christmas?”)
Why can’t I find you?
Why have you gone away?
Where is the laughter you used to bring me?
Why can’t I hear music play?
When it comes to the holidays, especially Christmas, I am a sentimental sap. A cry-baby in secret. People would never know it, but I want Christmas to always be just right. The way I want it: red and white candy canes on the tree, snowball fights with the neighborhood midgets, and of course having all the people I love gathered together on Christmas morning opening up their boatload of expensive gifts.
For me, hands down, the voice of Christmas is none other than the wonderful Johnny Mathis. Not only was he my dad’s favorite, but our family made it a yearly tradition to play his Christmas album while we would decorate Christmas cookies. The single song that epitomized his music is the happy toe-tapper, “We Need a Little Christmas.” It is such a fun and light song, especially with Johnny’s unique high tenor singing voice with its rich effervescent tones.
It always lifted my spirits and prepared my heart for Christmas fun; that is until I read some of the lyrics. Just listen to them:
Haul out the holly
Put up the tree before my spirit falls again
It hasn’t snowed a single flurry
But Santa, dear, we’re in a hurry
It’s time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough
For I’ve grown a little leaner, grown a little colder
Grown a little sadder, grown a little older
But Santa, dear, we’re in a hurry
So climb down the chimney
It’s been a long time since I felt good, neighborly
Do you see it? The poor guy is depressed; A fallen spirit, desperate for snow, starving, cold-hearted, sad and old. And the only cure in his mind is Santa climbing down the chimney. Fat chance that’s happening…
Have you ever felt like this during Christmas? Sad, desperate and old? Boy, the last few years I have.
I recently read an article in Psychology Today that said, “Psychiatrists, psychologists and other mental health professionals report a significant increase in patients complaining about depression during the Christmas season. One North American survey reported that 45% of respondents dreaded the festive season.” Think about that, 45%, that is a lot of sad and old people. If it was a crayon color it would be Ultramarine Blue.
The article listed a number of reasons for this high potential of seasonal dread: “For some people, they get depressed at Christmas and even angry because of the excessive commercialization of Christmas, with the focus on gifts and the emphasis on “perfect” social activities. Other get depressed because Christmas appears to be a trigger to engage in excessive self-reflection and rumination about the inadequacies of life (and a “victim” mentality) in comparison with other people who seem to have more and do more. Still others become anxious at Christmas because of the pressure (both commercial and self-induced) to spend a lot of money on gifts and incur increasing debt. Other people report that they dread Christmas because of the expectations for social gatherings with family, friends and acquaintances that they’d rather not spend time with. And finally, many people feel very lonely at Christmas, because they have suffered the loss of ones or their jobs.”
Wow, just thinking about all those things can cause you to tear your heart right out of your chest. And this list doesn’t even include all the new things that can depress you in our modern world: like the fact that the NSA is keeping a record of the new iPhone your son is getting, drones are circling your neighborhood at night to make sure Santa isn’t delivering firearms to terrorists, and you are not sure if your daughter is going to get the new Bruce Jenner Barbie doll mailed to them from their great Aunt Kevin who lives in San Francisco?
It is one crazy sad world. There really are so many reasons to be blue this Christmas.
So I was thinking long and hard about how to fix this? As a pastor who believes this should be a time of rejoicing and celebration, I have come up with some practical ways to fight the Christmas blues. So get out your red pad of paper, and take out your green pen, and write down some of these helpful notes to beat the blues.
(1) Stop listening to television commercials, reading the Facebook feed on how to make the perfect fruitcake or decorate your house to look like Ginger Bread, and ignore all mall employees who are trying to make you believe the perfect Christmas can be yours! It can’t. So instead, grab a sledgehammer and get ready to smash your TV when ‘Miracle on 34th Street'”, “The Christmas Shoes”, or “The Polar Express” comes on. I guarantee it will make you feel a whole lot better.
(2) Take your family and drive over the border to Tijuana, Mexico and spend your Christmas break with any one of the one-armed kids who sit on the side of the street singing “La Bamba” to the American tourists. You will love the weather in Mexico this time of year, but “La Bamba” might drive you crazy. And most of you reading this have two arms so count your blessings!
(3) Follow Elf’s example on how to have fun in the big city: eat the free bubble gum off the subway handrails, run around a swinging glass-door for five minutes until you barf, and then go get yourself a cup of the ‘world’s best cup of coffee’ at the nearest greasy spoon. You will surely come to love Christmas like the elves do.
(4) When you tuck your kids in bed at night, describe to them what it is like to work in a Chinese sweatshop. If they don’t like the presents you got them, just remind them they can earn a few more bucks after you move to Shanghai. Or threaten to send them back on the time machine you built in the basement to the early 17th century so they can hang out with Tiny Tim for an afternoon. They are sure to come back saying, “God bless us, everyone.”
(5) Look in the mirror while reading this article: http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/amazing-face-transplants-graphic-images/
And I think we all need to remember Jesus’ first Christmas spent on earth as a human being. It really wasn’t all that great. He had to sleep in a cow feeder filled with dirty straw – – it probably had flies and smelly animals sleeping nearby. One of the main gifts he received Christmas morning was funeral spices to wrap a dead body in. What is a baby supposed to do with that? He was also being hunted by the maniacal King Herod who wanted him dead. And to top it all off he couldn’t really get a good nights sleep because that darn drummer boy kept rumma-tum-tumming!
Let’s face it, we have got it made in America. And not only that, Jesus came to bring us hope, not bring us down to depths of despair on Christmas day. So honestly, examine your heart, and ask yourself why do you allow the blues to carry you away when grace is always available?
And please, never, ever, listen to that stupid song “Where are you Christmas?” by Faith Hill! You will be sure to want to kill yourself after hearing it once on the radio. Be Merry this Christmas!
