When the inclination at Christmas is more, more, more realizing you already have what you need can be a great relief, economically and emotionally. Hubby and I didn’t get any new Christmas ornaments or decorations this year. What we have, we like. Well-loved Christmas decor brings with it what happy associations there were in years past, to the extent I’ll put out with the just-received cards those saved Christmas cards from family members long dead.
Of course, it isn’t all sentimentality. After all, what were we thinking in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s? Learning to love the ugly, embarrassing and tacky ways we have celebrated is a good way to respect the life we’ve lived, even if we wouldn’t make the same choices again. Living and maturing isn’t about burying unpleasant facts, but learning and adapting from them, and even appreciating the life-choices and life-situations of those we have known and loved. And sometimes you laugh because you can’t imagine the level of delusion you once suffered, like making Christmas a competition.
In this spirit, I commend to you the unofficial website for the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special, perhaps the most bizarre television specials ever. Shown only once (I still remember it well) and squashed underground by the Lucas machine, yet being one of the few holiday offerings to ever effectively fuse Christmas and Hanukkah themes, it is . . . well, its a trip. You can download three MP3 songs from Carrie Fisher, Bea Arthur and Diahann Carroll. I mean, what were they smoking?
Yes, it’s kitch and camp (Bruce Vilanch was one of the writers) and it will make you laugh yourself into a migraine. And its better than being upset — if you are upset — this Christmas.