Have a Holly Jolly Christmas

I had to apologize to Jacki. O, I didn’t want to apologize because I had only been the victim of not paying close enough attention. You see, I had bet Jacki a million (not real but hyperbolic you-bet-I’m-sure-on-this-one) bucks that the song we were listening to was not Burl Ives singing but Gene Autry (the singing cowboy) belting out the “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” lyrics. I was wrong… it was “curse that Sam the Snowman” Burl Ives! I can just hear that goateed fake-snow gliding stop animated troubadour chiding me with, “Have a holly jolly Christmas...” I tell you if I wasn’t the minister for the Roseville Church of Christ… Hey, wait a minute this is my last Sunday maybe I’ll pancake that orbed holiday nuisance and silence his cherry little tune! Yes, yes, yes… I’m just kidding and I really do believe in the next Johnny Marks’ lyrical line, “It’s the best time of the year!” Christmas has its fair share of bad traffic, bad attitude shoppers, bad Santas and holiDAZED nonsense but it still is the best time of the year!

Johnny Marks wrote the song “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas” along with the lively “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” His lyrics are simple but really do invoke the Christmas spirit in us all. The fascinating thing about that is that Johnny Marks was Jewish and to my knowledge never wrote a Chanukah song. However, that really is the Christmas story after all. Now, don’t get me wrong I believe that the reason for the season is Jesus. Whether historically inaccurate or not the celebration of the Christ child is the glory of the season. If angels could sing from on high of this glory we should celebrate the holy night as well. With that said… the real spirit of Christmas is the spirit seen in the Christ child, in a jolly elf named St. Nick, in a Dicken’s character scrooged up with greed and in a Jewish lyricist that proclaims it’s the best time of the year. It is the human spirit freed from sins darkness and warmed by love, kindness and joy. It is a summon to know the power of giving and the unity of sacrifice that dissipates the general sad state of affairs. It transcends ethnicity or cultural bias and unites mankind in the joy of a season of love expressed and generosity unchained. It really is the best time of the year!

So… in this last article that I will write for the Roseville Church of Christ my home for 23 and a half years let me say with the angels on high, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests (Luke 2:14).” It really is the best time of the year! -DAN