Make the Yuletide gay

I’ve written about one of my favorite modern American Christmas songs before. It came along at a time when there were powerful forces working on our national sensibilities, and I believe it captured everything in one place—melody, lyrics, even Judy Garland, of whom I’m not a fan.

“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” was the lynchpin of the 1944 Vincent Minelli film Meet Me in Saint Louis. It speaks of carrying on in the face of unsettling times, and hoping for the restoration of family and loving friends in the future, even if the present is more than a little frightening.

It was a perfect song for Americans who’d been led to believe that, following the Normandy invasion in June of that year, the world war should have been over by Christmas. Not only had that not happened, but the German Ardennes offensive—a total surprise to the Allies—engendered confusion and fear; fear as frozen and bitter as the weather around Bastogne.

We live in unsettled times now, more than 70 years later; recent events have proven that we don’t need to cross an ocean to face terror. So “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is just as timely as it was in the darkest nights of our fight against Nazi totalitarianism. Wherever you are, wherever your loved ones are, take a moment to step away from the current struggle that has enveloped us, and let your hearts be light.

(This version by Linda Ronstadt.)