Welcome to the beginning of the end…of 2025 and the holiday season. Sorry, that was unneccessarily dark, and this year has already had enough of that.
I do love this time of year with all its sparkle and shine, but it also has a way of bringing up a touch of sadness. Given the onslaught of merry messaging, feeling anything but happy can feel like a betrayal of the season, but that touch of grief is just as much a part of the holidays as all the holly and jolly.
I think this sentiment is perfectly summarized in my favorite lyric of my favorite Christmas song — “Through the years we all will be together, if the fates allow. Until then, we’ll have to muddle the rough somehow.”
If you don’t recognize the second half of that lyric, blame Frank Sinatra who wanted to make “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” peppier with a line that completely ignores the tone of the remaining lyrics—“Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.”
On a side note, if you want to enjoy a festive existential spiral, look up the earlier draft of the lyrics. It’s giving “you may not live to see tomorrow.”
Interrupting trees and merry mortality aside, the song, in its original format, doesn’t try to gloss over all the complexities of this time of year. The holidays aren’t a neat little bow on the end of the year. They’re a reflection of all the good and the bad. They’re a reminder of all those who are present in our lives and those whose absence is felt.
If you remove the pain and pangs from the holidays, what you’re left with is sparkle without substance. The sadness and struggle are essential. Without it, the joy is meaningless.
Be Kind. Be Brave. Stay Awkward…and have yourself a merry little Christmas now.
Onward & Awkward 