Friday, December 14, 2007

December Melancholia


I can count on it every year, like clockwork. The days get shorter, the temperatures get colder and, a week or so into December, it hits me..... sort of like a grey twilight fog that descends quietly and persistently over my psyche and refuses to lift... until after Christmas is over.

I have no idea why this happens. I have absolutely no reason to suffer from the Christmas Blues. Perhaps it's the fact that God's voice and the spiritual significance of Christmas get completely drowned out under the overwhleming cavalry charge to Buy More, See More, Do More, Consume More, and Have More. Just too much, all the time, force-fed. Yuck.

Was Christmas always this way?

I have been listening quite a bit this month to "Wintersong", Sarah McLachlan's fabulous CD of holiday songs. There is a clear melancholy streak that runs through much of her music, and this CD is no exception. However, these selections are also incredibly beautiful. Her voice is haunting; a beacon of sorts to those of us who are melancholy this time of year. Below is a link to the video of "River", her gorgeous re-make of Joni Mitchell's classic. I love the lyrics..... she sings that it's "comin' on Christmas" but yet she wishes she "had a river that she could skate away on".

I can relate.

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