It's Too Late: YSC, Day 176: Brianna

Prompt: "A song that, to you, represents the true meaning of the holidays"

Selected by Brianna

"It Feels like Christmas"

Ghost of Christmas Present

The Muppet Christmas Carol: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, 1992

It's been a tradition of mine for the past couple of years to get up early a day or two before Christmas to wrap presents and watch The Muppets Christmas Carol. During these hours, the living room is still free from bah-humbug roommates, and mine to embrace the Christmas Spirit within. We don't really put the time into decorating around here, and I'm not one for Christmas music prior to the week of, so these days, the holidays tend to feel pretty distant until they are standing right over me about to begin. But once they do start, it's hard to deny the magic of it all, and I have to admit, I do love this time of the year. 

Not that I'm a miserly or selfish person, but to me, there's something relatable to Scrooge's journey. When the story begins, he's caught in the machinery of life. Like many, he's been consumed by materialism, by greed and lives to work. While those around him dream about the traditions and joyous occasions ahead, he doesn't see or relate to this at all. It's just another week of the year, like any other. As he meets his ghosts and confronts this icy front he's put up around himself, Scrooge sees the error in his ways. This time is not like any other, and embracing it is embracing an important part of human existence—that it's a shared existence. 

Because what are the things we buy and the moments we experience if not with people we love to share it with?

Of course, you don't need the Muppets or Charles Dickens to tell you that—most Christmas centered media and literature has been sharing this message for as long as the holiday has been around. The magic here is that rarely anymore, or ever, has the message been shared so well and by puppets* nonetheless!

*This is not to understate the performance of Sir Michael Caine, whose Shakespearian approach is the most masterful and grounding of his career.