Each year, I seem to connect with one Christmas song over all the others. It’s very random and it changes every year. But I always spend the holidays playing one song more than any other.
The first time this happened was Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas is You. This was the year I met my husband and it was the perfect song for me to celebrate with him for the very first time.
Other memorable favorites that defined certain years include Last Christmas by Wham!, Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee, Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms, and, during what must have been a particularly whimsical season, I gleefully cranked Christmas Don’t Be Late by Alvin and The Chipmunks on repeat!
This year, I am moved so heavily, I literally cry each time I hear Judy Garland singing Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.
The lyrics for her original performance of this song (from the movie Meet Me In St. Louis) absolutely define holidays of 2020. Her velvet voice, filled with longing and love, tenderly tells a story about separation, grit, and insisting on finding joy in the face of sorrow. “Someday soon we all will be together; If the fates allow; Until then, we’ll have to muddle through somehow; So have yourself a merry little Christmas now…”
I mean, come on!
The song also promises a better tomorrow in which “Next year all our troubles will be miles away” and with Judy singing, it’s a promise I believe will come true.
This year may not have gone the way any of us expected but we can still enjoy our holiday…Judy says so!