Somewhere along the way, certainly in the last century, someone decided to add a sub-genre of music to the “Christmas/Holiday” category. It might be called “romance” or “love songs” or something like that. I won’t try to prove it statistically, but my hunch is that most new Christmas (or Holiday) music written in the last, say, fifty years would fall into this sub-category.
One of the songs in the genre was first recorded in 1948 by Doye O’dell, but I’m fairly confident you don’t associate the song with him. Aficionados of old-time country music might remember Ernest Tubbs’ version. But most likely, you connect “Blue Christmas” with Elvis Presley who released a recording of the song on his 1957 Elvis’ Christmas Album.
A much tamer version than Presley’s passed the music check at my college alma mater, and it became a sort of unwanted theme song among many dating couples on campus.
The closer Christmas break came, the more frequently “Blue Christmas” played on the college radio station, for most couples would be going to their respective homes for the holiday. And they would sing to their date….
I’ll have a Blue Christmas without you
– Written by: Billy Hayes, Jay W Johnson Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, DEMI MUSIC CORP. D/B/A LICHELLE MUSIC COMPANY
I’ll be so blue just thinking about you
Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree
Won’t be the same dear, if you’re not here with me
And when those blue snowflakes start falling
That’s when those blue memories start calling
You’ll be doin’ all right with your Christmas of white
But I’ll have a blue, blue, blue Christmas
You’ll be doin’ all right, with your Christmas of white,
But I’ll have a blue, blue blue Christmas
A Spoof
Just before Christmas break of my freshman year, some creative type came up with a little skit based on “Blue Christmas” for the Freshman Class Christmas party. It featured a couple who had started dating that semester, and he was smitten. She, well…she enjoyed his company and attention, but smitten she was not.
So he sang her the first stanza, in a whiny, melancholy voice, letting her know just how utterly miserable he was going to be for the next four weeks. But she responded to his tear-jerker with a peppy, jolly upbeat reply that began:
“You’ll have a blue Christmas without me, I know, but I’ll be having lots of fun playing in the snow….”
And that’s all of it I remember. But the rest was along those lines, and I’m sure it’s enough to get the point.
Poor guy.
Interestingly enough, the skit didn’t generate much jolly laughter! Personally, I didn’t mind it. I had left my girlfriend (now my wife) back home more than three months earlier, so my Christmas wasn’t going to be blue at all!
No doubt “Blue Christmas” did well on the charts (made #1 more than once) because it connected with people. Not only collegian couples who would be separated over the holidays, but couples who broke up or were otherwise torn apart also felt the song’s sting.
A Blue Effect
One of the effects of the song is to remind us that for many people, the Christmas holidays are not “the most wonderful time of the year,” to quote another pop holiday jingle. Sure, “Blue Christmas” zeroes in on one reason for holiday melancholy, but there are many more.
With so much emphasis on gift-giving, and giving the perfect, elaborate gift, many are blue because they can’t afford to give much, if anything.
That reminds me. My grandson is reading the Little House on the Prairie books, and for Christmas Laura Ingalls got a new pair of mittens and a candy cane. And she was ecstatic. These days, if that’s all most parents could get their children for Christmas, they’d sink into major depression…and likely wallow in it with their kids!
Some are blue this time of year because they instinctively know the family should be together, but they won’t be. This reality hits hard for parents whose kids have grown and left the nest, and for the first time ever, the family won’t all be together for Christmas. And of course in 2020, everything is complicated by the COVID pandemic, too. How many traditional family holiday celebrations will be nixed out of fear of getting sick—or of getting caught by authorities who’ve “outlawed” such gatherings?
Then there are those who’ve suffered loss since last Christmas. The death of a spouse, a parent, a beloved grandparent, or worse, a child, leave such a void. Holidays only exaggerate the vacuum.
No matter how hard others try to cheer the grieving survivor, feelings of celebration are elusive. The place the loved one filled last year is empty; no one, nothing, can fill the void.
Another kind of melancholy hits at the holidays. Christmas means the year is about over, and it’s time to take stock of the past twelve months. The squandered time and opportunities, the messed up relationships, unmet expectations and unrealized goals—all can deflate the season’s efforts to pump up one’s spirit.
Then, of course, post-holiday blues descend upon many. After such a buildup of excitement and expectation, the day comes and goes so quickly! Loved ones come and go—the visit, so brief! The tree dies, the decorations get put away, the place looks dull and drab and empty. The cold, dark, dreary days throw a blue blanket over the once buoyant spirit.
In all likelihood, all of us have experienced some form of holiday blues.
Missing the Point?
Perhaps because none of the reasons for Christmas blues actually have anything to do with the real meaning of Christmas.
I’m guessing most of us have seen the Charlie Brown Christmas Special at least once! Remember how Charlie Brown is trying to discover what Christmas is really all about and he keeps running into distorted notions that will surely inspire the blues? It’s got to be about the right gifts or the right people or the right tree, right?
Until Linus steps up and says, “I can tell you what Christmas is all about!”
And then steps out onto the stage alone and tells him:
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, Good will toward men.”
– Luke 2:8–14
With that, Charlie’s scraggly little tree is enough and the cast of kids breaks out in song.
To continue the carol….
“…Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate Deity!
Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.
…Mild he lays His glory by, Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King.’”
No cause for the blues. The King has been born!
No cause for the blues when God and sinner have been reconciled!
No cause for the blues. A loved one may be missing at the holiday table, but Jesus is our Emmanuel—“God with us”!
No cause for the blues. Death may have struck, it may be imminent, but the newborn King lays His glory by so death may lose its sting and be destroyed!
No cause for the blues. He was born to raise the sons of earth, to give the second birth!
Indeed, none who have received this “second birth,” who have by His grace been reconciled to God through the sacrificial work of the newborn King—none who know what Christmas is really all about need ever have a blue Christmas.
Pastor Bice:
I loved this message!
We all need to focus on Christ, the “real reason for the season” and rejoice!
If we are in Christ, we need to remind ourselves each day to live beyond our circumstances. Christ is with us giving us light and life….the courage and strength to
live out our days in this sin sick world.
We need to be very careful with internet, radio, and tv viewing. Boy, can that get us “blue” or depressed. (I know if I do too much “screen time” it has an ill effect on me.)
Thank you for a wonderful message!