We Need a Little Christmas

Let’s face it. The last week or so has been rough. Actually, all of 2016 has been challenging. This was a contentious election season, and a stressful election. Even if your guy won, there is no denying that the last few months have probably taught you something about this country, your friends, even yourself…and you may not like what you have learned.

Four of my five children are now old enough to “get” politics. While they may not understand all the issues, at the very least, they understand tone, and they certainly get the divisions our country is facing. It’s been rough for them, too. And they’ve been begging me to put up the Christmas tree. Normally, I would wait until next weekend, because I usually put it up the weekend before Thanksgiving, but today I relented. I’m not sure if they even understand why they have been begging me so desperately, but I think they’re echoing the same sentiments of Mame:

Haul out the holly;
Put up the tree before my spirit falls again.
Fill up the stocking,
I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now.
For we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute,
Candles in the window,
Carols at the spinet.
Yes, we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute.
It hasn’t snowed a single flurry,
But Santa, dear, we’re in a hurry;
So climb down the chimney;
Put up the brightest string of lights I’ve ever seen.
Slice up the fruitcake;
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,
And I need a little angel
Sitting on my shoulder,
Need a little Christmas now.
Haul out the holly;
Well, once I taught you all to live each living day.
Fill up the stocking,
But Auntie Mame, it’s one week from Thanksgiving Day now.
But we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute,
Candles in the window,
Carols at the spinet.
Yes, we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute.
It hasn’t snowed a single flurry,
But Santa, dear, we’re in a hurry;
So climb down the chimney;
Put up the brightest string of lights I’ve ever seen.
Slice up the fruitcake;
It’s time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough.
For we need a little music,
Need a little laughter,
Need a little singing
Ringing through the rafter,
And we need a little snappy
“Happy ever after,”
Need a little Christmas now.
Need a little Christmas now.

Yes, we need a little Christmas. Right this very minute. Next weekend wasn’t soon enough. And to anybody who wants to chastise me for rushing through Thanksgiving or skipping Advent, I challenge you to look back through my blog. Look at how we celebrate Thanksgiving every year, regardless of how early the tree goes up. I don’t make a huge dinner and a pie for every member of our family because I’m trying to rush through it! Look at how we observe Advent. That holy season is my favorite of the church year, one that brings peace in the middle of the chaos of Christmastime. We are not rushing or skipping anything. We are simply bringing in a little extra joy, a little early, in the midst of a year that could really use it.

Laughter is the Best Medicine

I have to admit, I didn’t grow up watching Saturday Night Live. When I was in junior high and high school, and all my friends were watching it, I wasn’t really allowed to. And by the time I got to college, I was so used to not watching it, that I continued on that way. Sure, I caught pieces of it here and there, and usually laughed, but it just wasn’t a big part of my life.

After the Ferguson events of 2014, however, I developed a new appreciation for SNL, based on one single sketch that didn’t even make it to the actual show. But that one sketch came at a time when I felt like we really it needed it here in St. Louis. It made me feel less alone, even made me laugh, and that was something, given how tense life in St. Louis had been for months. There was something healing about it.

For the last few months, I’ve seen that play out in my life again. This election season has been tense, contentious, and oftentimes, downright horrible. It has left me feeling alone, and has greatly diminished my faith in mankind. But enter SNL, with their Election 2016 sketches, and once again, I had that feeling that I experienced in 2014. I felt less alone. The fact that SNL was mocking it made it seem less scary, and made me realize that other people were struggling, too. And again, I laughed, when I didn’t think it would be possible.

I’ve always heard that “laughter is the best medicine,” but I guess I didn’t really understand it until recently. I’m glad SNL was there at times when I needed to laugh. A lot of people probably see it and shows like it as just entertainment. But I think there is a greater purpose than just making us laugh…I think it helps heal us, as well. And when Alec Baldwin finally broke character, I think he realized it, too:

“And now it’s time to get out there and vote. None of this will have mattered if you don’t vote.”

Thank you Saturday Night Live, for being the silver lining in the cloud that is Election 2016!

Wash U Debate 2016

I can’t find much good to say about this year’s presidential election, and I can’t even stomach watching the debates, but I must admit that Washington University here in St. Louis is looking mighty good for it!