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Why “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is the perfect carol for 2020
At the risk of stating the obvious, it has been a shit year. From civil unrest to wildfires to political strife to, yes, a pandemic which has killed more than 1.6 million people globally (nearly 300,000 of them in the US alone), 2020 has been our collective annus horribilis.
As we thankfully near the end of this God-awful year, many around the world look forward to Christmas providing a spark of joy. Usually the season to be jolly, the pandemic — and the lives lost to it — casts a pall over this year’s festivities. Many of us will be separated, whether by lockdown or by choice, from our loved ones as we try to keep ourselves and one another safe.
This is a necessary, but terrible, sacrifice to ask of people. The festive season is already famously one of the loneliest times of the year. Add to that the isolation that folks have felt since the pandemic began in earnest this March, and this is shaping up to be a blue Christmas, indeed. For many, it will be the first Christmas they haven’t seen children or grandchildren, parents or siblings, old friends and new babies born into the family. It is worth acknowledging their disappointment and sadness.
Luckily — or maybe not luckily, as nothing about this is lucky, but rather aptly — there is a song in our carol book…
