A pair of Energetic Elves stopped by on Christmas Eve-eve … to lend a hand with one last round of cookie-baking.
What a Yuletide scene it turned out to be: flour flying, sugar sprinkles soaring, memories in the making – perhaps a double-batch or more!
And one of the Elves had a special treat in store for his dear old Gramps … a well-timed dental deficit that immediately elicited fond memories of a silly song from the Old Man’s youth.
Turns out, the young-un is familiar with the novelty tune too, but he’s not particularly taken with the idea of having it sung repeatedly in his presence. Nor would he – I suspect – be completely satisfied with his haul on Christmas morning, if the song’s wish were actually to be granted. “All I want … is a couple of lousy teeth? I don’t think so!!!”
Still, Gramps got a kick out of the whole scenario … plus a Yuletide wonder or two to mull over as well. Starting with the whole notion of Christmas Novelty Songs: red-nosed reindeer, magic silk hats, singing chipmunks – the list is a long one, and it seems to grow every year. Siren songs…luring us further and further away, a Grinch might say, from ever contemplating the true meaning of Christmas.
Or do they?
After all, as Saint Paul reminds us (1 Cor 12: 3), “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except in the Holy Spirit.” Could the Holy Spirit not then also be at work in every mention of Christmas – whether in novelty song or sacred carol? Christ’s name is a powerful name indeed, and so I for one am pleased to hear it on the lips of almost everyone you meet this time of year. Even the temporarily toothless ones who might mar the pronunciation just a bit: “Merry Chrithmus!”
“Christ plays in ten thousand places / lovely in limbs and lovely in eyes not His,” wrote the priest-poet Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ. He got the idea right, I’d say, but his math was off at least by a factor of ten.
Christ is at play in us – in all of us – whether or not we fully comprehend the meaning of our dear Savior’s birth. Whether or not we are able to mouth songs of praise – as this very Grandson taught me six years ago, on his very first Christmas Eve.
It seems to me that Christ plays as we play, singing silly songs … and reveling in laughter and love. We meet the Christ-Child there, do we not?
Because in those holy moments, we love.
And God is love.
Merry Chrithmus to all – from our loving home to yours!
Let us pause now…to recall that we are in the presence of the Holy & Merciful One.
IHS
With Us Still 