If We Make it Through the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

For many people, Christmas is “The most wonderful time of the year.” Andy Williams captures the spirit perfectly in his perennial 1963 Christmas classic:

It’s the hap-happiest season of all

With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings

When friends come to call

It’s the hap-happiest season of all

But for others, this holiday season is better captured by Merle Haggard’s song “If We Make it Through December,” a melancholy lament that topped the charts for more than a month in 1973-4. It would seem that many resonate with the spirit of Haggard’s sad words:

Got laid off down at the factory

And their timing’s not the greatest in the world

Heaven knows I been working hard

Wanted Christmas to be right for daddy’s girl

I don’t mean to hate December

It’s meant to be the happy time of year

And my little girl don’t understand

Why daddy can’t afford no Christmas here

So here are my thoughts. If you find this to be the most wonderful time of the year, say a prayer or save a kind word for those who are just trying to get through the month. And if you’re just trying to get through the month, remember that a new year brings with it the hope and promise of better days.

Above all, be well, and Merry Christmas.

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