I've always had a little bit of trouble with Christmas. Having lost my mother, who made Christmas so much fun for us as kids, when I was 17, I learned to hate the holiday, until I had kids of my own. Every year, I work hard to make it as special for them as it was for me growing up, and to hide the fact that the holiday still makes me tremendously sad (and stressed.)
Even without personal tragedy (and I have several friends who are celebrating their first Christmas without a loved one who died this year, not to mention all of the families of U.S. troops who are in the same situation, and Iraqis too...) Christmas is bundled with contradictions. It's purportedly a religious holiday, but the date it's celebrated was cribbed by the early Christian church, directly from the pagan calendar (not to mention the fact that Jesus was mostly probably born in June.) In a way, Christmas is probably best celebrated the way Macy's intended, as a secular holiday that's about Santa, happy children, and the last magical thing most of us will ever believe in.
That said, there are three Christmas songs I really love: "This Christmas" by Donny Hathaway, which is just a quality R&B song, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," and "I'll be Home for Christmas" (Michael Buble has a great version) even though that particular song always makes me cry. If I had to add a fourth, it would be John Lennon's "Happy Christmas (War is Over)" which was written a few days before Halloween in 1971 by John Lennon snd Yoko Ono in their New York hotel room, as a protest against the Vietnam War. Some trivia about the song from SongFacts:
John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote this in their New York City hotel room and recorded it during the evening of October 28 and into the morning of the 29th, 1971 at the Record Plant in New York. It was released in the US for Christmas, but didn't chart. The next year, it was released in the UK, where it did much better.
John and Yoko spent a lot of time in the late '60s and early '70s working to promote peace. In 1969, they put up billboard advertisements in major cities around the world that said, "War is over! (If you want it)." Two years later this slogan became the basis for this song when Lennon decided to make a Christmas record with an anti-war message.
The children's voices are the Harlem Community Choir, who were brought in to sing on this track. They are credited on the single along with Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band.
Lennon and Ono produced this with the help of Phil Spector. Spector had worked on some of the later Beatles songs and also produced Lennon's "Instant Karma." It was not Spector's first foray into Christmas music: he spent the summer of 1963 putting together A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector, featuring artists like The Ronettes and Darlene Love. Unfortunately, the album was released on November 22, 1963, which was the same day US president John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and the album was pulled from the market.
... Lennon was shot and killed less than 3 weeks before Christmas in 1980. This was re-released in the UK on December 20th of that year.
And here are the lyrics:
So this is Christmas And what have you done Another year over And a new one just begun Ans so this is Christmas I hope you have fun The near and the dear one The old and the young
A very merry Christmas And a happy New Year Let's hope it's a good one Without any fear And so this is Christmas For weak and for strong For rich and the poor ones The world is so wrong And so happy Christmas For black and for white For yellow and red ones Let's stop all the fight A very merry Christmas And a happy New Year Let's hope it's a good one Without any fear And so this is Christmas And what have we done Another year over And a new one just begun Ans so this is Christmas I hope you have fun The near and the dear one The old and the young A very merry Christmas And a happy New Year Let's hope it's a good one Without any fear War is over over If you want it War is over Now...
And here's the original song:
To all of those who are missing loved ones this Christmas, I wish you comfort, peace, and the joy of a season full of intended, and unintended, blessings.
