Each Wonderful Christmas

...And you thought "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" was depressing...

She's very near the end here; this was her last time on the Tonight Show couch, and all too soon she was off to Europe, off on another tour, another marriage, never to return. There's not much left, and no one would claim much in the way of classic status for the song - a pretty trifle - but still: attention must be paid.

Nearly half a century of Christmases have passed since then, in December of '68, and yet the bittersweet yearning seems achingly contemporary. How much we want to hold on - to love, to some illusion, to a little light in this the darkness of the longest night. In the end, perhaps, we settle for kindness, just a moment's respite, from now 'til New Year's Eve. I know it's hard, but try...

Oh, dear. I really am trying to have a cheerful Yule, really I am; circumstances, though, do seem to conspire against it all. I've decided, therefore, that a little wallow now and then might even be therapeutic.  As a result, I'm spending far too much time on videos like this, and listening to seasonal favorites like Yeston's "December Songs" in their definitive interpretation by Andrea Marcovicci, along with Tracey Thorn's holiday album, and a generous dose of Peter Warlock's "Bethlehem Down." If the opportunity arises, I think I'll sit Mr. Muscato down and we'll watch "Meet Me in St. Louis," the greatest-ever cheerful-against-all-odds not-a-Christmas-movie that I know of.

I hope you're finding some brightness as the solstice passes, some warmth against the cold. We need it, this year, more than ever.