Have Yourself a Melancholy Christmas?

I love listening to Christmas music from Thanksgiving Day all the way to New Year’s. But this year I noticed something about quite a number of our standard Christmas songs, many of which come out of movies. Many of those songs are quite wistful and melancholy; some are outright sad. The lyrics speak of longing for Christmases gone by, wishing to be with friends and family, dreaming of a romantic Christmas surrounded by snow. One song is all about a blue Christmas. Another speaks about being home for Christmas, even it is just in one’s dream.  

The famous song, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” comes from the movie “Meet Me in Saint Louis.” Judy Garland sings the song looking out over a snow-covered backyard, sad that this is supposed to be her family’s last Christmas in St. Louis. She sings,   

      

“Have yourself a merry little Christmas 

Let your heart be light 

From now on your troubles will be out of sight

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

Make the Yule-tide gay

From now on your troubles will be miles away….”

It’s a sad song filled with longing as she already misses the Christmases she once knew with friends and family, hoping that fate will one day bring them back together. In fact, the original lyrics were so sad they were scraped. The line was,  “Have yourself a merry little Christmas, it may be your last. Next year we may all be living in the past.” Not quite the most upbeat Christmas lyrics. 

In my mind, all of this stands as quite a contrast to the angel’s announcement of “good news of great joy,” the praise of angels filling up the sky singing, “Glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:10, 14) or the announcement to Joseph that this baby to be born will “save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) So many of the popular Christmas songs stand in sharp contrast to shepherds running towards the manger filled with excitement, and after having seen the baby “glorifying and praising God” (Luke 2:20) or the magi who “rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.” (Matthew 1:10) 

It seems to me, when you take the birth of Jesus out of the center, Christmas becomes a holiday filled with all kinds of longings and expectations that may or may not be fulfilled. After all, we may or may not get the gifts we desired; we may or may not get to be with our friends and family; we may or may not have it lightly snow on Christmas Eve; etc., etc. It’s no wonder for many people, Christmas becomes a day of depression and despair. 

But put the birth of Jesus back into the center of it all, making him the focal point of the season, and the gifts, dinners, family gatherings, and snow become merely an addendum to our celebrations. Thus, no matter what kind of celebration we may or may not have, our hearts can be filled with the peace, hope, and joy that Jesus came to bring. 

So, no need to have a melancholy Christmas.  Keep Jesus in the center and you just may find yourself singing at the top of your lungs, “Joy to the world the Lord is come!”  

Have a great day! 

- Pastor Tim Harris