I would like to take the opportunity to wish our readers and all our community a Merry Christmas, and a happy New Year.
But at least we all will be together, if the Fates allow,
From now on we’ll have to muddle through somehow.
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.
This, from the Judy Garland version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” a wistful and bittersweet song from 1944′s Meet Me in St. Louis; it was a big hit with the GIs overseas in the war. Later in the 1950s, Frank Sinatra recorded it with a more upbeat lyric, changing “muddle through somehow” to “hang a shining star upon the highest bough.” That was the cheerful 1950s, but muddling through seemed about right in 1943-44.
(Side note: I listened to the Bob Dylan Christmas album and, to my immense surprise, rather liked it. Enough to buy it on Itunes. Though it is true, as Althouse says, that Dylan manages to make “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” into not so much a promise as a threat.)
In related news, I would like to note that the NORAD Santa tracking station got it right and … Santa came!
LarryA says:
Slightly OT:
I recently realized that back when we were discussing greatest fantasy novels we left off one that by any measure should be high on the list. It scores high for popularity, iconic status, number of remakes, number of ripoffs, satires, words added to common vocabulary, allusions, clichés generated, quotes, citations, and memorable characters. Perhaps we didn’t think of it because it’s so ubiquitous we no longer consider it part of the official fantasy genre.
I speak, of course, of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. How Scrooge of me.
Oh, and Happy New Year.
December 25, 2009, 10:34 amLaura(southernxyl) says:
My girl is all grown up now. She’ll be over later with the boyfriend to open presents. It’ll be a relatively sedate affair, especially since this is our first Christmas in 18 years without the tomcat who used to crawl inside her boxes as soon as she had them open, one after the other, forcing her to take the extra step of lifting him out before she even saw what she had.
But when I got up this morning to get coffee I thought about little kids all over the neighborhood and elsewhere, with their shiny new toys that Santa brought. Maybe before too many years I’ll have some little grandbabies and we’ll get to cycle back through.
Merry Christmas!
December 25, 2009, 12:17 pmHBM says:
In the movie “The Victors,” Frank Sinatra sings this song during the execution of Private Eddie Slovik. It is an absolutely amazing cinematic moment.
December 25, 2009, 1:59 pmTweets that mention The Volokh Conspiracy » Blog Archive » A Merry Christmas -- Topsy.com says:
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Eugene Volokh, Eugene Volokh. Eugene Volokh said: A Merry Christmas: I would like to take the opportunity to wish our readers and all our community a Merry Chris.. http://bit.ly/70yFyO [...]
December 25, 2009, 2:58 pmSean O'Hara says:
Note that the version sung in Meet Me in St. Louis isn’t the original version. That was even more downbeat, with lines like, “Have yourself a merry little Christmas/It may be your last,” and “Friends who were dear to us/ will be near to us no more.” For obvious reasons, Judy Garland refused to sing it in the film.
December 25, 2009, 4:45 pmHouston Lawyer says:
I really liked the song and didn’t know that previous versions were morose. It is not often that a song’s re-write makes it better. We get re-writes of Christmas carols now to make them more PC. I sing them the old way.
The only “happy holidays” I received as a greeting this year just came from some random guy in a parking lot. From everyone else, it was Merry Christmas.
December 25, 2009, 7:58 pmChrisTS says:
I was offered a
have a nice holiday’ at the Post Office by one clerk, but another said, ‘No; it’s Merry Christmas.’
Her theory: if she says it, she is entitled to reflect her own holiday orientation. So, it’s ‘my Christmas’ to whomever she is speaking. I thought, but did not say, ‘Then why bother to say it to another person?’
December 26, 2009, 5:32 pmRandy says:
Houston: “The only “happy holidays” I received as a greeting this year just came from some random guy in a parking lot. From everyone else, it was Merry Christmas.”
Well, at least this critical ‘culture war’ is finally won! Now you have to work on making sure that no one dons any ‘gay’ apparel.
December 26, 2009, 6:39 pm