Hard Candy Christmas

I got an early Christmas present from my husband, the new Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood Christmas cd "Christmas Together."

Some of the songs are traditional--"Baby, it's Cold Outside," "Feliz Navidad"-- and some are non-traditional or new.

But my favorite song on the album is "Hard Candy Christmas," which had been previously recorded by Dolly Parton in 1982.

The lyrics begin:

Hey, maybe I'll dye my hair
Maybe I'll move somewhere
Maybe I'll get a car

Maybe I'll drive so far
That I'll lose track
Me, I'll bounce right back
Maybe I'll sleep real late

Maybe I'll lose some weight
Maybe I'll clear my junk
Maybe I'll just get drunk on apple wine
Me, I'll be just

Fine and dandy
Lord it's like a hard candy Christmas
I'm barely getting through tomorrow
But still I won't let
Sorrow bring me way down

 

Those lyrics feel oddly appropriate for this political moment. At one point, I was so angry, I wasn't sure I would celebrate this Christmas. But I have kids, and they would be deeply disappointed if Santa didn't show up because Mommy's political candidate didn't win.

 

Of course, it's not just about that, one person, but the direction that we want this country to go in or not go in.

 

I want this country to be a place that not just tolerates immigrants, but welcomes them. A place that doesn't fear science and the inconvenience of hard truths but embraces these truths. Yes, climate change is scary, but we can't pretend it's not happening. Avoidance never solved any problems. It only exacerbates them.

 

Still, this year, like every year, we decorated the tree. I turned the Christmas music on. And then I found this song, which I don't remember from 1982 because I was very young then. I do remember sometimes watching Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton specials. I think, but I can't be sure that there was one called Christmas in July.

 

Years later, alone, doing an internship during college, I spent my first Thanksgiving away from my mom and dad in Pittsburgh. I shared the day with a cousin and some of her other family. Instead of pumpkin, we ate Key Lime Pie.

 

This year, we got a real tree again for the first time in a long while. We took the netting off and let the branches fall, the smell of citrus filling the room.

 

I'm a religious person, so I try to find some deeper meaning in all of this. Maybe this:

 

 

 

Or this:

 

 

Or maybe just this:

 

"Me, I'll be just

Fine and dandy
Lord it's like a hard candy Christmas
I'm barely getting through tomorrow
But still I won't let
Sorrow bring me way down"

 

While I fear the worst and hope for the best, there is a comfort in Christmas music, familiar and new, and a comfort in sharing new traditions with my own family.

 

#StrongerTogether