A Merry Little Christmas

It really is the small things that matter when it comes down to it. My daughter gave me a bag of mandarin oranges (or are they clementines?—I'm never sure of the difference) and they are so beautiful and the smell and taste simply wonderful. When I was very young and our family attended Christmas Eve services at the Methodist Church in Idaho, at the end of the service as we left the church each child was given an orange, wrapped in tissue. I always associate the sharp, spicy smell of oranges with Christmas. And, of course, there was always a small orange in the toe of our Christmas sock. And the fact that my daughter is right here, mere blocks away, to share her oranges with me is the best gift of all.

I have boxes of Christmas decorations and "stuff" that I did not put out this year and have a smaller than usual Christmas tree, but it is enough. I have made no cookies, no candy (that was last year). We don't need it. I will make a delicious dinner, however, and we will eat well on Christmas day, surrounded by family and friends. It will be a merry little Christmas.

I love the NPR program "Fresh Air". Yesterday Terry Gross interviewed Hugh Martin, who wrote the song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" sung by Judy Garland in the movie "Meet Me in St. Louis." In the song, part of the lyric goes, "someday soon we all will be together, if the fates allow. Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow..." He said that Frank Sinatra wanted to record the song for a Christmas album and thought those lyrics were a "downer" and asked Martin to rewrite them. The new lyrics are, "through the years we all will be together, if the fates allow. Hang a shiny star upon the highest bough..." Hugh Martin and Terry Gross both agreed they like the original lyrics best. So do I. Nothing wrong with a little muddling through.