It's that time of year again--snow is falling, bells are jingling, toes are mistling... that's right, folks, it's the holiday season! And whatever holiday you personally celebrate based on whatever faith, religion, or tradition you practice (or even if you don't), I hope you're having a great one.
A couple of weeks ago, I mused about the differences between adults and children where it pertains to the falling of snow. To some degree, I think this is true of the holidays as well. I get a lot less excited about them as an adult than I did as a kid. I suppose it could just be me, so I won't speak for all adults. And I suppose I would feel differently if I had young kids of my own--or even grandkids, as I've discovered so many people my age now have.
I don't dread it like I did when I worked retail, but I did that for so long that I still have certain attitude problems that never fully went away. And my current job doesn't shut down for the holidays. In fact, I actually have to work this Christmas. It's a lot harder to get excited about the holidays when you know that's looming over your head.
The older I get, the more of a curmudgeon I become. It's not that I hate the holidays--I mean, I haven't said "Bah! Humbug!" since 2008--I just have to convince myself to participate. I still put up a tree and watch a lot of holiday movies. (And, yes, I do consider Die Hard to be a Christmas movie, but more importantly, I think Lethal Weapon is a better Christmas movie than Die Hard. Yeah, I said it!) But there are still some battle scars from my retail days. Clearly, I stayed in it too long.
The one thing I do more frequently than I did a decade ago is listen to holiday music. As I've often said, when I worked retail, I would usually find myself burned out on Christmas music around Veterans' Day because corporate started pushing it sometime after Labour Day. But when I don't have to listen to it 40 hours a week, I find I actually want to from time to time. The interesting thing about holiday music is that it's hard to screw up. Consequently, I find that I have some Christmas CDs in my collection by artists that I don't even like (maybe I'll focus on that next year). The one habit from my retail days is that I still tend to examine lyrics that make no sense. I don't understand why the ox and lamb kept time. As the Little Drummer Boy... isn't that his job?
Anyway, this holiday season, I want to share one of my favourite Christmas albums. The one thing I like about this album is that the first half of the album is more "contemporary" Christmas songs, and the second half is more traditional songs with a heavy gospel influence (in fact a couple of songs aren't even Christmas tunes--just straight up gospel). I firmly believe that the album's opening track, the Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller penned "Santa Claus is Back in Town," is the best rock 'n' roll Christmas song ever recorded. The second half of the album, in particular, shows off the vocal talents of The Jordanaires, who I contend were the greatest backup singers of all time. They, more than anyone else, actually gave me an appreciation for gospel music that I never used to have growing up. From 1957, please enjoy the King of Rock 'n' Roll himself with his first--and I've always felt his best--collection of holiday tunes, Elvis' Christmas Album.
This will be my last "Album of the Week" sermon for 2025. I wish you all a fabulous holiday season and you'll be hearing from me again in the New Year. In the meantime, be kind to the retail clerks and restaurant servers and cafe baristas who wait on you this holiday season. Many of them are likely just trying to get through it.
Until 2026, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember that if at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
Yours in peace, love, and rock 'n' roll!
The Reverend Will the Thrill
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