Christmas Joy

Ice Sculptures. Gaylord Palms. 2016. Michelle Raponi.

"It is not well to imagine that Jesus demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good." A beam of light is from Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 494. Studying this book I came across this wonderful assurance again this Christmas time: Divine Love brought forth Christ Jesus and is supplying ALL good to all mankind every hour. Thousands of years ago, hundred of years ago, twenty years ago, last week, today. Everywhere, right in this moment, all the time. All the time! Isn't it the most important and sweetest gift we can give this Christmas: To pray and know this truth for everyone who has a place in our heart? And enlarge the scope of our prayer for all mankind? Our own family Christmas tradition involves praying quietly for mankind half an hour at Christmas, each guest, friend and family member individually with his/her own copy of the textbook of Christian Science.

So with this glorious, shining, joyful Christmas message in mind: Is there room for lightheartedness and humour in Christmas? The better question is: Is it even possible to feel divine Love's tender care without smiling? How can not be "Rockin' around the Christmas tree"? What would Christmas be without joy? With the arrival of the Christ light in the world, all the good stuff is here: Healing, peace, equality, goodness, joy---and humour. There is so much gladness and Jesus Christ, and it is natural to be drawn to ease and lightness for Christmas. Family gatherings thrive on humour, the best Christmas sermons involve joy and sometimes even the comical, and a favourite Christmas soundtrack will involve catchy tunes, from "Feliz Navidad" and The Messiah by Handel to the "Chipmunk song" and the famous "A Charlie Brown Christmas".

For many Americans - and a year later in translation to everyone on the planet with a TV - this special Christmas gift on TV presented so much more than entertainment. It brought light and joy and this very special wisdom and reason which only children are capable of. A listener commented in 2014:

"Dad lost his business in '65. The bankruptcy court took everything: the houses, the cars-everything. I can't tell you how bleak the holidays were that year, but as an 8 year old, I had "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Hearing "Linus and Lucy" got me through some tough times throughout the years."

So the other day my husband showed me a wonderful find: Jerry Granelli offering "A Charlie Brown Christmas" in 2020. The great drummer was (until this year) the last surviving member of the original Vince Guaraldi Trio which had written and recorded the music for the animated Christmas special "A Charlie Brown Christmas" from December 9, 1965 (half of the US American population watched the world premiere on CSB).

It is a gift to hear the Jerry Granelli Trio play "Linus and Lucy" - and it is equally moving to see the musicians (Jerry Granelli at the drums) deliver this Christmas favourite with so much sparkle, down to the very last soft brush stroke (boy, does he know how to use the brushes) on the cymbal. If you have Christmas' real message in your heart you don't need to look for this gift under a tree. Can anything keep you from smiling? Merry Christmas!