North Texas News

A friend recently asked me to name my favorite Christmas song. I must admit that the question momentarily stumped me. Many songs raced through my mind, and with them, a flood of fine memories. After providing a delayed response, my mind continued to run through musical memories of Christmases past. The joyful music, the fun music, and even the sad or romantic holiday music.

Over the next few days, I listened to numerous additional Christmas songs from seasons past whose lyrics suddenly resurfaced from the recesses of my mind. Many of these songs we hear only during one season of the year…the Christmas season. We all remember songs that were written long prior to most of our births like “White Christmas” (1942), “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” (1943), or “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (1944). The children perennially love “Jingle Bells” (1857), “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1949), and “Frosty the Snowman” (1950).

My mind then drifted to songs like “Holiday Road” (1983) from the Chevy Chase movie “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” What about holiday movies? Who can forget “Miracle on 34th Street” (1947), “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (1965), or my personal favorite “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946)? The characters George Bailey, Mr. Potter, and Mary elicit both pleasant memories and strong emotions. The associated, powerful emotion drives me to contemplate what has been and what can be.

Our holiday songs and movies are accompanied by Christmas trees, decorations, lights, an abundance of food, and seasonal drinks like eggnog or wassail. People have fun dressing in red, green, and crazy holiday sweaters. Children que to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. Many parents keep their young children behaving nicely by telling them that they don’t want to be on Santa’s naughty list.

Collectively, all these seasonal cultural behaviors culminate into one cherished thing…shared experiences with those we love. The holiday season is a time when love is both strongly encouraged and widely shared. We are reminded of a young child’s innocence and boundless excitement, and that we should savor every Christmas with our aged, loved ones. We are also reminded, more than any other time of the year, to tend to the needs of those less fortunate than ourselves.

On behalf of the Weatherford College community, I sincerely wish you a holiday season filled with love and joy! May you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Tod Allen Farmer

President, Weatherford College

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