The Problem with Christmas

Now that we're on the other side of that magical day (Merry Christmas, BTW), I have an observation to make:  I think we kind of bore ourselves as adults with Christmas by starting to celebrate it waaaaayyyy too early but then not at all afterwards.  Of course, a lot has already been said about reducing that holy day to simply a day of gift-giving, and the materialism-consumerism that goes with that, so I won't beat on that drum.

But it drives me even crazier that all the sales, decorations (who hasn't noticed?), and Christmas songs on the radio get us to start celebrating the holiday at least a month before the actual day itself, to the point that there's actually a sense of relief when it's over.  And then after Christmas day, nothing. 

All the buildup and hype, all the messages on TV and the news promoting goodwill and "making Christmas last", and then no mention of it after the 25th.  Except of course for Boxing Day sales up here in Canada. 

Does anyone even recognize that Christmas is actually an eight-day feast (called an "octave") in Christianity?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octave_(liturgical)

OK, so that gives away my Catholic roots, but by now my values should be no surprise to anyone reading this blog.

So I can see where, as adults, we get cynical and even start dreading a holiday that really has the potential to inspire us and carry us into the new year with new hope and a sense of promise.


And to resist the trend, we're determined as a family to not only keep the decorations up for a week or two after Dec. 25th, but to watch Christmas movies and listen to Christmas music in the days that follow.  For example, we just watched Disney's "A Christmas Carol" last night, the 27th, for the first time this season.  Great animation, decent scripting, but it feels too much like it was made for 3D if you ask me.  Too many scenes of Scrooge riding/flying through the air and things rather obviously being thrown at the screen for effect. 

And it seems like that's what Robert Zemeckis was going for:

I think Jim Carrey sums it up well when he says: "We were able to finally do what Charles Dickens wrote". 

Yeah, Jim, Charles was aiming for that 3-D thrill ride thing in many of his stories.

But just to avoid sounding like a Scrooge myself, here's my top-ten list of Christmas songs/versions, for those raised on the pop Christmas tunes we've been hearing on the radio (nonstop on CHFI here in Toronto since U.S. Black Friday!).  In no particular order:

1) Mahalia Jackson's "Silent Night" or "Joy to the World" - the epitome of soulful gospel singing

2) The Pogues' "Fairytale of New York" - not a sweet and pious song, but it rocks and inspires

3) Judy Garland singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" - again not a religious song, but the best version and the original from "Meet Me in St. Louis"

4) Elvis singing "O Little Town of Bethlehem" - or pretty much any Christmas song

5) Eartha Kitt's "Santa Baby" - really hate the song since Madonna's version, but Eartha makes it sexy in a way that M could never

6) Stevie Nicks' "Silent Night" - not the classiest version, but I don't get tired of it (also amazed that she sang it)

7) Sting's "The Angel Gabriel" - ditto

8) Celine Dion's "O Holy Night" - very few singers that comfortably hit the high notes, but CD does it

9) Boney M's "Mary's Boy Child" - timeless though overplayed

10) Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" - even more overplayed, but I can't leave Bing off the list and he made the song what it is

Really interesting, when you think about it, how many non-believers and Hollywood types made Christmas songs popular.  If I were more paranoid I'd subscribe to a conspiracy theory about replacing Jesus with Santa Claus. 

But I'll save that for my senior years.