Some Christmas music

 Most years, yes, I'm all about film clips and songs about Christmas.

I haven't felt it quite as much this year, and also with being HERE (and so not being constrained to tapping in the occasional post on my phone while up at my mother's) so I've posted less about it.

But yeah, I am also not feeling it quite as much this year. I have a stack of gifts to open and I will Facetime with family on Christmas, and there's a Christmas Eve service of sorts at church (and I volunteered to come early and help light all the candles), but it's different and I don't always LIKE "different."

Especially not this kind.

But of course, this is not the first time ever traveling for Christmas wasn't possible for an American. During the pioneer era, people who moved way out to the plains (or even California) from the more-settled East, they would likely never see their relatives again. That is a hard thing to imagine but I also remember from reading the "Little House" books what a big, big deal it was when they got to see Aunt Docia again, and when Mr. Edwards showed up after some time of absence, that was a time of rejoicing. 

And, more recently: in wartime. World War II, in particular, nearly every family knew of someone who was deployed overseas - or, people were employed by munitions factories or in hospitals (if COs). And so even then not everyone could get home, and for that matter, with gas rationing and tires hard to come by, travel would have been more difficult. (And I think, if I'm not mistaken, that people were asked to leave trains free for the soldiers and sailors who could get home on leave)

So there were lots of people who weren't seeing family, in some cases I guess, seeing no family at all.

Famously, "I'll Be Home for Christmas," which maybe people today haven't really paid attention to? But it does contain the stinger line at the end: "....if only in my dreams" and if I am remembering correctly, it was written with soldiers who were still deployed overseas (and so, would not get home for Christmas) in mind.

And yeah. I heard it the other day and it is kind of a gut punch this year, a little bit. 

(And yes, even more recently: I remember seeing the news footage from the first Gulf War of soldiers being served Thanksgiving dinner "over there" and I guess even more peaceful deployments like to bases in Germany or the Philippines mean you're away from your Stateside family)

"No Place Like Home for the Holidays" is cheerier and I suspect was written later (yeah, Wikipedia says 1954) but it's also a bit of a gut punch, especially the references to train travel; I always took the train in the before-times. Even when I was a student in Ann Arbor after my parents had moved to Illinois. (When they still lived in Ohio, it was only about 3-4 hours away, and one or both of them drove up to get me, though I think I took Greyhound one time and after they realized it took twice as long for me to get home....they decided just to pick me up in the future)

(Okay, the video on that is not great. And yes, I know it's Perry Como's song, but I like Robert Goulet's voice better)

And of course there's the grandaddy (grandmama?) of all "Christmas under difficult circumstances" songs, and one of my favorite of the secular Christmas songs:

 

(Sadly, that clip doesn't go the full length of having Tootie go ape on the snow family because she's upset and sad and doesn't know how to cope. I like that scene because I have FELT that scene several times this run-up to Christmas. Sometimes when you're sad and you know you can't do anything to fix the situation, you do want to break things)

This is actually the - I guess you'd say emotionally-midrange - version of the song; there's a happied up version (I think most associated with Sinatra) that I like less, but there's also the original, grim version, that Garland said she didn't want to sing in the movie because it was too dark.

But some have recorded it:

AH hah ha ha ha ha. I think you can ONLY approach that as graveyard humor, I think it's meant to be over the top grim. 

(I don't know but I get a bit of a Sufjan Stevens vibe off of Messersmith. I guess it's a style of male singer now? And Sufjan Stevens has done his share of odd/melancholy Christmas songs). 

Some people even hear "Christmastime is Here" from the Charlie Brown special as melancholy, but I don't quite hear it, not even this year. I see it as more contemplative. 

I think this year, though, I prefer the Christmas hymns and religious songs, because even with me being stuck here, THAT part of Christmas doesn't change; it never changes.