Lonely Christmas
The tone and timbre of this, the Christmas season, has the ability to deflate and isolate just as easily as its original intention is to elevate and inspire. As we are to remember the holy sanctity derived from the meaning of Christmas, somehow we tend to forget that there are many among us who can not share, or experience, the blessed senses that are so firmly entrenched and associated with Christmas; seeing children in pajamas running down the stairs much too early in anticipation of presents under the tree, smelling the dizzy scents of dripping, succulent meats, warm, hooded pies, sugared root vegetables, chestnut roasting on an open fire, hearing the crunching and tearing of pretty paper and ribbons snapping, tasting a pomegranate champagne toast or feeling the pursed lips of the first morning kiss after the smiling exclamation of Merry Christmas has been expelled.
For some, they merrily proclaim that this is just another day and it’s no big deal for them to spend it alone – they have so much to catch up on. For others, they dismiss any talk about what they’re doing that day with a smile and distracted avoidance. There are those who fill the day with the excuse that they’re picking up an extra shift or two in order to let those with somewhere to go, or something to do, have their time to do so.
I know someone who bought themselves a packaged container of Christmas cookies from the local chain supermarket, their only present, and ate them Christmas morning while sitting in front of their apartment window watching the day slowly slide.
Many are devoid of cheer because loved ones are away from them through either insurmountable traveling, or emotional, distance or through powerfully bleak, and punishing circumstance.
All have no choice but to experience the surrounding revelry unintentionally from afar, but with their heart and soul fitfully and cruelly writhing and entombed within.
Christmas With No One To Love
With a lovely, swirling B3, Charles, better known for his yuletide standard “Please Come Home For Christmas”, ushers in the day with a longing lament for that someone special to be there with him. His longing could literally be for his sweetheart, but in a broader sense could very well be interpreted as the blinding, empty, cold stinging for his children, or the warm, calloused-hand embrace of his father once more, or even for his God to acknowledge him in a moment of diving intervention by sending “tidings of comfort and joy”.
He sings of being alone, even though the paramount importance of being among others is impressed and stamped firmly on this, the day we call Christmas.
Christmas can be a sad affair
When there’s no one to love you and no one to care
Make wonder when this Christmas finds me lonely
Wanting you
Carols being sung by a choir
Candy and toys and a tree near the fire
Makes me blue
When Christmas finds me lonely wanting you
One Parent Christmas
The horror of not being able to provide enough consistently throughout the year is only more unfairly magnified on this one day when there are small ones, caught up in the seasonal frenzy, who need only look around themselves and see what a huge event all their friends make of Christmas. The unenviable burden of forcing ones self to place a mask of happiness and excitability on their face and actions so that others can be happy and excited has to be close to madness when the situation they find themselves in is anything but.
My money is tight, but not so tight as my time
Tried to get it all done, and still have peace of mind
Stretched out a few dollars, check out all the list
I ride all over town trying to find her big gifts
Pick out the tree, put up all the lights
Trying to make Christmas, make it feel merry and bright
I clean the house shiny
Then I cook all the meals
But so very tired, tired and lonely I feel.
It’s so hard making Christmas
For some, they merrily proclaim that this is just another day and it’s no big deal for them to spend it alone – they have so much to catch up on. For others, they dismiss any talk about what they’re doing that day with a smile and distracted avoidance. There are those who fill the day with the excuse that they’re picking up an extra shift or two in order to let those with somewhere to go, or something to do, have their time to do so.
I know someone who bought themselves a packaged container of Christmas cookies from the local chain supermarket, their only present, and ate them Christmas morning while sitting in front of their apartment window watching the day slowly slide.
Many are devoid of cheer because loved ones are away from them through either insurmountable traveling, or emotional, distance or through powerfully bleak, and punishing circumstance.
All have no choice but to experience the surrounding revelry unintentionally from afar, but with their heart and soul fitfully and cruelly writhing and entombed within.
Christmas With No One To Love
With a lovely, swirling B3, Charles, better known for his yuletide standard “Please Come Home For Christmas”, ushers in the day with a longing lament for that someone special to be there with him. His longing could literally be for his sweetheart, but in a broader sense could very well be interpreted as the blinding, empty, cold stinging for his children, or the warm, calloused-hand embrace of his father once more, or even for his God to acknowledge him in a moment of diving intervention by sending “tidings of comfort and joy”.He sings of being alone, even though the paramount importance of being among others is impressed and stamped firmly on this, the day we call Christmas.
Christmas can be a sad affair
When there’s no one to love you and no one to care
Make wonder when this Christmas finds me lonely
Wanting you
Carols being sung by a choir
Candy and toys and a tree near the fire
Makes me blue
When Christmas finds me lonely wanting you
One Parent Christmas
The horror of not being able to provide enough consistently throughout the year is only more unfairly magnified on this one day when there are small ones, caught up in the seasonal frenzy, who need only look around themselves and see what a huge event all their friends make of Christmas. The unenviable burden of forcing ones self to place a mask of happiness and excitability on their face and actions so that others can be happy and excited has to be close to madness when the situation they find themselves in is anything but.
My money is tight, but not so tight as my time
Tried to get it all done, and still have peace of mind
Stretched out a few dollars, check out all the list
I ride all over town trying to find her big gifts
Pick out the tree, put up all the lights
Trying to make Christmas, make it feel merry and bright
I clean the house shiny
Then I cook all the meals
But so very tired, tired and lonely I feel.
It’s so hard making Christmas
In a one-parent home
Charles Brown: Christmas With No One To Love [102]
From: Charles Brown Sings Christmas Songs [1961]
Saffire-The Uppity Blues Women: One Parent Christmas [47]
From: The Alligator Records Christmas Collection [1992]
Charles Brown: Christmas With No One To Love [102]
From: Charles Brown Sings Christmas Songs [1961]
Saffire-The Uppity Blues Women: One Parent Christmas [47]
From: The Alligator Records Christmas Collection [1992]
Addendum: As can be expected, there continues to be a stunning array of tracks offered from my many online friends that will surely dilate your pupils in amazement! Believe me - not the usual, same ol' droning you'll hear everywhere else. Look on the right hand side of this blog for a complete list of those that continue to influence, and entertain, me.
posted by WZJN at
12:35
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