Jingles for the Holidays
Warning: these might get lodged in your head...
Stuck is a place we find ourselves a lot this time of year. Stuck in airports, stuck in traffic… stuck in time, stuck in patterns of behavior. We get stuck on sides and in ruts, and regardless of how mightily we flail, sometimes we just can’t seem to get our bearings to break free. It’s like being caught up in quicksand. You won’t drown, but the more you wiggle to try to get out, the worse the “stuckness” gets. Getting stuck isn’t a choice. But being still is. And sometimes that’s the only way to make it through.
2. Give Me a Break—Kit Kat Bar
That’s what we think we want. A break. Some slack. A reprieve. But what we really want is a thing that leads us to know that we matter. We crave important work to do. Someone to expect something of us. A bar to reach. A line to try to live above. Maybe it’s a job. Maybe it isn’t. But purpose lights our eyes and makes us hold our heads up. Something to aim at keeps us walking straight. We weren’t created to wobble around haphazardly in circles—we were built to do. “A pitcher cries for water to carry,” says Marge Piercy, “and a person for work that is real.”
3. Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut— Almond Joy
It never fails-- I remember it one way, my brother remembers it another. So we go back and forth. And back and forth. And back and forth. Which usually leaves me wondering if he grew up in somebody else’s house. But mostly what we do is laugh-- while our children stare at us incredulously. We writhe and gasp as tears roll down our faces while the rest of the family watches like curious onlookers on the other side of the glass at the zoo. Something about gathering for the holidays brings the crazy out. That’s part of what makes family so special: the nuts usually don’t fall far from the tree.
4. I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing--Coca-Cola
Perfect harmony. Now there’s a thought. If only Coca-Cola could do it, this peace thing would be a breeze. Unfortunately, it can’t, so it’s not. But music can be a pretty incredible balm. Maybe this holiday season, we can lean into Mahalia Jackson, or James Taylor, or George Strait. Or the Beatles. Who knows how much it might help us all. It certainly couldn’t hurt.
The holidays are designed for children, even though grown-ups need them the most. Little ones step so quickly and easily into awe. Sugarplum fairies aren’t a stretch, nor are reindeer who fly because dreaming is a child’s default. But life has a way of sucking the wonder out of us as we grow. And if we’re not careful, we wake up one day to find ourselves cynical. Crusty. A card-carrying member of the Club of Doubt and Disbelief. Kids, however, grant us admission to a different kind of place, especially at Christmas. When wide eyes scan the sky for Santa’s sleigh or shrill screams at the sight of brightly wrapped presents left under the tree pierce the Christmas morning air, it’s hard to not believe. This time of year reminds us we’d be well advised to live a little more like them and they a little less like us. A dose of child-like wonder could do us all some good.
6. Whatever It is I Think I See—Tootsie Roll
We forget sometimes that what we’re looking for plays a tremendous role in what we see. Evil is everywhere, for sure. But so is good. We can find whatever we want. Angels—the extra and the ordinary—are lurking all around. If we really want to see them, all we have to do is look.
7. Anticipation— Heinz Ketchup
“There’s always a moment,” says Winnie-the-Pooh, “just before you begin to eat honey, which is better than when you are eating it.” That’s the holidays in a nutshell. We can’t wait until the meal is ready… until we get the tree up…until Santa comes. And then it happens, and it has no shot at being as good as we made it in our minds. But that in and of itself is part of the magic of the season. Counting the days is more than half the fun.
8. Magically Delicious—Lucky Charms
We have stuffing once a year. And green bean casserole. And cranberry rings. And turkey, too, come to think of it, because the kind that comes thinly sliced in a plastic sack for sandwiches doesn’t really count. On the last Thursday of November, it’s the best food we’ve ever had. We eat and eat and eat, and then we rave about what we ate, and then we eat it again at Christmas, and then don’t go anywhere near it for an entire calendar year. If it’s really all that great, why don’t we have it again in July?
9. I Need Cash Now—J.G. Wentworth
We think sometimes money makes it happen, but it almost never does. The best gifts are rarely the ones we have to sell a kidney for. The gifts we hold on to—the ones that move us and, as a result, typically stand the test of time-- usually don’t cost much at all. And they’re typically made from something we all have to give.
10. Plop Plop, Fizz Fizz—Alka-Seltzer
Oh what a relief it is! When the food is gone and the wrapping paper is trashed and the tree and all its trimmings are shoved back into the closet, we welcome normal back. A clean, quiet house and an empty fridge feel, weirdly, like leftover gifts. And yet, they often come holding hands with the blahs. Once the fullness of the season passes, we can’t help but feel as if something is missing. The mess is, of course, but the magic is, too.
P.S. A Local Classic…