Mostly a believer but I thought I would croak at the 2 hour nbc Christmas special— every performance secular- closing with joy to the world by a recorded choir. It’s all for merchant and company money
i'm very sorry...you use to amuse me...now it is a lot of bla,bla,bla,ego,old man rambling on bla,bla.bla...Please.retire while you're still a sort of legendary figure and write private love notes to your beloved....wishing you the best...jj
The "please retire" with a question mark was in response to someone who wrote "please retire" without a question mark--an ageist and rude request probably made by a Trumper upset by a hint of criticism of his criminal cult leader/wannabe kleptocratic dictator.
But Mr Keiler, please remember that Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol as part of the English Ghost Story tradition and it was/ is at its heart a morality play. Dickens would be rolling in his grave if he could see what and how it has evolved into
For years I played music in public places during Christmas, at office buildings, in shopping malls, at country clubs, usually part of a strolling trio with violin, bass and me on guitar. By mid-month, half-way through my two dozen or more gigs, the constant fare of Christmas music was wearing on me. It's one thing to hear it in every supermarket and at every gas pump. It's another to have to play it over and over. Eventually I identified a recurring dark mood that came over me every year around December 15th which I came to call "Yule Rage." It helped to name it. I still have a low tolerance for these ditties, but in my semi-retirement from playing, the rage has lifted. I do love Advent if I can stay away from the hubbub and bright lights.
My late husband and I enjoyed several Christmas shows in the Town Hall in NYC. And we always stood and sang Silent Night and it was extraordinary. And I shall also "wait for the light."
Christmas is & always has been a schizophrenic seasonal ceremony, being an amalgam of Christian & Pagan elements and concerns. I think Dickens, although perhaps popularising aspects, was picking up on pre-existing concerns. Even many Christians have a rather Woolworths pick & mix approach to what might be seen as the essential verities, as an unmitigated diet of suffering & sacrifice is hard for all but the most zealous and certain to bear. So for some of us with a faith of sorts, a search for a mix of the holy and difficult and the neighbourly, as you put it and the joyful, trying to exclude the kitsch & tat. How valid that is is for each of us to come to terms with, even within an organised religion. For me then Christmas is a stranded thread represented by the picture of the Nativity as captured in the lines of your countryman Eliot's Journey of the Magi. Were we led all that way for Birth or Death? And my countryman John Betjeman's poem Christmas and its line, Is it true? Both open questions without immediate clear resolutions and hard to live with without the leaven of the possibility of goodness, happiness, redemption & yes even bonhomie reflected in Dicken's and many vernacular responses to the season.
I understand, but as for me I shall cherish both my savior's birth and my Christmas tree viewed while hearing Bing sing White Christmas one more time. They are not mutually exclusive things. God bless them everyone.
At every Christmas eve. service at my church, I find myself, for no explicable reason, tearing up at the singing of Silent Night at the conclusion. My wife and I have been members and activists in the church for many years. It's almost muscle memory - maybe brain muscle - that takes us through every Sunday service. But not Christmas eve. I think - correct me if I'm wrong - that this is at the core of what you are saying here. In any case, stay strong and Merry Christmas in the true sense of what that means.
I loved this column. I do not believe in it, because even as a callow youth I read the Holy Words and it all seemed to fit into a perfect allegorical interpretation. Jesus spoke in the most beautiful parables and metaphors and the tales from the past all fit perfectly into the beauty of enlightened and allegorical human story telling.
But, I still loved the column. I like quiet Christmas too.
"Ignore the dark. Wait for the Light."
Thanks for helping us hang on to Advent in the midst of an unholy shopping season.
I am joining you in waiting for the light...and, when feeling Christmas contankerous, shining a bit of that light on the Emperor's no clothes.
Mostly a believer but I thought I would croak at the 2 hour nbc Christmas special— every performance secular- closing with joy to the world by a recorded choir. It’s all for merchant and company money
Amen as we go forward with trust and faith. Merry Christmas😊🎄😊
i'm very sorry...you use to amuse me...now it is a lot of bla,bla,bla,ego,old man rambling on bla,bla.bla...Please.retire while you're still a sort of legendary figure and write private love notes to your beloved....wishing you the best...jj
Please retire?
What an agist thing to say, as well as quite rude.
Please retire ending with a question mark? And "agist" how? Please discuss.
The "please retire" with a question mark was in response to someone who wrote "please retire" without a question mark--an ageist and rude request probably made by a Trumper upset by a hint of criticism of his criminal cult leader/wannabe kleptocratic dictator.
No, no, no... Sure, he's a rambling old man, but I still love him. Let him go. We're all going where he is anyway.
I am curious if your mother raised you to have such an inflated opinion of your opinions?
Garrison Keillor is a genuine legend and a true gentleman.
You are simply a legend in your own mind.
An anonymous troll. An ill tempered coward.
Who apparently has a need to channel his inner Ebenezer.
But Mr Keiler, please remember that Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol as part of the English Ghost Story tradition and it was/ is at its heart a morality play. Dickens would be rolling in his grave if he could see what and how it has evolved into
Most enjoyable and timely reading. Thank you, Mr Keillor.
"Ignore the dark. Wait for the Light" will stick with me for a long time.
For years I played music in public places during Christmas, at office buildings, in shopping malls, at country clubs, usually part of a strolling trio with violin, bass and me on guitar. By mid-month, half-way through my two dozen or more gigs, the constant fare of Christmas music was wearing on me. It's one thing to hear it in every supermarket and at every gas pump. It's another to have to play it over and over. Eventually I identified a recurring dark mood that came over me every year around December 15th which I came to call "Yule Rage." It helped to name it. I still have a low tolerance for these ditties, but in my semi-retirement from playing, the rage has lifted. I do love Advent if I can stay away from the hubbub and bright lights.
My late husband and I enjoyed several Christmas shows in the Town Hall in NYC. And we always stood and sang Silent Night and it was extraordinary. And I shall also "wait for the light."
Christmas is & always has been a schizophrenic seasonal ceremony, being an amalgam of Christian & Pagan elements and concerns. I think Dickens, although perhaps popularising aspects, was picking up on pre-existing concerns. Even many Christians have a rather Woolworths pick & mix approach to what might be seen as the essential verities, as an unmitigated diet of suffering & sacrifice is hard for all but the most zealous and certain to bear. So for some of us with a faith of sorts, a search for a mix of the holy and difficult and the neighbourly, as you put it and the joyful, trying to exclude the kitsch & tat. How valid that is is for each of us to come to terms with, even within an organised religion. For me then Christmas is a stranded thread represented by the picture of the Nativity as captured in the lines of your countryman Eliot's Journey of the Magi. Were we led all that way for Birth or Death? And my countryman John Betjeman's poem Christmas and its line, Is it true? Both open questions without immediate clear resolutions and hard to live with without the leaven of the possibility of goodness, happiness, redemption & yes even bonhomie reflected in Dicken's and many vernacular responses to the season.
“In Him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. The light is shining in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Oh, if only I had written that. My sentiments entirely! But now I don't have to, someone more talented has already done it.
Ah, a bit of Christmas "Bah, Humbug!"
I understand, but as for me I shall cherish both my savior's birth and my Christmas tree viewed while hearing Bing sing White Christmas one more time. They are not mutually exclusive things. God bless them everyone.
At every Christmas eve. service at my church, I find myself, for no explicable reason, tearing up at the singing of Silent Night at the conclusion. My wife and I have been members and activists in the church for many years. It's almost muscle memory - maybe brain muscle - that takes us through every Sunday service. But not Christmas eve. I think - correct me if I'm wrong - that this is at the core of what you are saying here. In any case, stay strong and Merry Christmas in the true sense of what that means.
And I was glad to learn of Saturnalia!
I loved this column. I do not believe in it, because even as a callow youth I read the Holy Words and it all seemed to fit into a perfect allegorical interpretation. Jesus spoke in the most beautiful parables and metaphors and the tales from the past all fit perfectly into the beauty of enlightened and allegorical human story telling.
But, I still loved the column. I like quiet Christmas too.
Well . . . I guess I won't ask you what you think of Seuss's Grinch, huh!
Feliz Navidad, mi amigo.