"Have a Less Depressing Christmas" and Other Holiday Blues

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Christmas can be depressing. A slide into the blues may begin in autumn with seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Short days, especially in Christmassy northern climates, can lead to depression, social withdrawal, and thoughts of suicide. Serious, debilitating SAD is rare, but one in five people suffer "winter blues" as sunlight dims.

So "holiday blues" depress moods that may already be low. What "should" be a happy time is sad because of excessive eating, drinking, spending, and  social pressure. Then there's the gap between memories and reality. We remember loved ones absent by death, divorce, or distance. We miss old friends, alone in crowds of acquaintances. And when the holidays don't automatically bring joy, we're disappointed.

HAVE A LESS DEPRESSING CHRISTMAS

              (To the tune of "Holly Jolly Christmas")

Have a less depressing Christmas than you did last year.

Try to shrug off bah-humbug and chug another beer.

Have a less depressing Christmas amid all the world's wrongs,

Under siege with memories and stupid Christmas songs.

Uh-oh, you're all alone, even in a crowd.

Nobody cares for you, so act out really loud.

Have a less depressing Christmas. We will all soon disappear.

Don't feel crappy. Have a happy, sappy Christmas this year.


Have a less depressing Christmas. You can try to even though

Loved ones died and lovers lied and you feel cold as snow.

Have a less depressing Christmas even if the end is near.

Try not to resent too much the others' Christmas cheer.

Oh no! Your mood is low. Nothing makes you smile.

Maybe you can laugh too much, hide it for a while.

Have a less depressing Christmas. Think of Santa and his deer.

Don't feel crappy. Have a happy, sappy Christmas this year.


       The blues, as a genre of music, can be an antidote to the blues as a mood. Blues songs relieve the sadness they often describe. So I'll chase that song with a nicer composition sung to an upbeat twelve-bar blues line like "Rock Around the Clock."


IT DIDN'T FEEL LIKE CHRISTMAS (TILL YOU CAME HOME)

A blanket of snow all around the house.

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse,

But it didn't feel like Christmas.

No, it didn't feel like Christmas.

It didn't feel like Christmas, baby, till you came home.


It was a silent night. It was a holy night.

Everything was calm. Everything was bright.

But it didn't feel like Christmas.

No, it didn't feel like Christmas.

It didn't feel like Christmas, baby, till you came home.


I had decked the halls with boughs of holly.

It was the season to be jolly.

But it didn't feel like Christmas.

No, it didn't feel like Christmas.

It didn't feel like Christmas, baby, till you came home.


The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

But it wasn't Santa I wished was there,

And it didn't feel like Christmas.

No, it didn't feel like Christmas.

It didn't feel like Christmas, baby, till you came home.


I couldn't sleep. I had some mistletoe.

I wasn't waiting up for Santa though.

It didn't feel like Christmas.

No, it didn't feel like Christmas.

It didn't feel like Christmas, baby, till you came home. 



Painting by Robert Stacy


  

    

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