HOW'S YOUR HOLIDAY SPIRIT?

My Christmas Spirit went off and hid someplace. Or maybe he's visiting another of his people, helping them get in the holiday mood. Or maybe--{{gasp}}--he retired!

No use trying to figure it out. These past few years--pandemic time--have made it easier for me in some ways. (Stay in the buggy, it'll all become clear.) For instance:

• no shopping in crowds or noise or with a sense of Overwhelm
• no meals to prepare since none of us has a need to get together in a group (some of my children have their own familial pod gathering)
• no music to prepare for church services
• no gifts to wrap and mail

So, wouldn't you think I feel I'm missing out? Actually--not at all! Groups do overwhelm me; shopping is one of the very least of my interests, way down there with root canals and intestinal flu; and I'd much rather lick stamps to send checks and cash than make a gift look like the ones in the pretty ads on the Internet. About the only thing I miss is music, but I can still play music at home, either recorded or on the organ with my own ten digits.

Okay, let's list all the Christmas-y things we can do, even if we're locked down or just masked. Such as:

• Christmas movies - I have several and they're well-watched. The library has more. The Internet with its 10,000 opportunities to stream or subscribe or buy or merely watch (for free, they say) can provide enough videos to last me another 20 years or more, and in the meantime, there'll be newer ones available.
• Christmas stories - I hate to admit it, but I find every year that there are fewer and fewer good holiday stories; so many are just take-offs from other stories. 
• Christmas cooking - okay, I'm game for a nice meal. Baking cookies, though, isn't much fun if there aren't people to share them with, so I ignore the oven for the most part.
• Christmas cards and letters - my list grows shorter every year. So many people don't send any at all. Maybe I should hop on that bandwagon. But I do like to send a "family news" letter to some folks I've known for decades and who also know my children.
• Visits - via Zoom or other vehicles on the Internet. I've done that, once; but it's not one of my favorite things and takes a lot of planning with people in a variety of time zones.

Then yesterday, I got a song going through my head, realized it was "The Secret of Christmas," written by Sammy Kahn and Jimmy Van Heusen for Bing Crosby to sing in Say One for Me. The more the words came back to me, the more I knew they were the message I needed right now. So here they are, for you:

It's not the glow you feel
When snow appears
It's not the Christmas card
You've sent for years

Not the joyful sound
When sleigh bells ring
Or the merry songs
Children sing

The little gift you send
On Christmas day
Will not bring back the friend
You've turned away

So may I suggest, the secret of Christmas
It's not the things you do
At Christmas time but the Christmas things you do
All year through

Songwriters: Sammy Cahn / Jimmy Van Heusen

If you want to hear it, you can search for it on the Internet. Or you can hear Bing Crosby sing it in a small video I included in a blog post on December 24, 2019.

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I'll try to remember the secret of Christmas as I travel through the remaining days to the 25th of December. How about you?


Blessings,
Thursday's Child