Making Merry

This is a very difficult Christmas for a whole bunch of reasons but obviously the recent death of my Dad is weighing heaviest on my heart. My response to the loss has been shutting off the computer for awhile and not participating in Flickr, Twitter, blogging as much and trying to focus more on the flesh and bones folks that are around me. It has meant so much to receive kind words from faraway friends but the people I am surrounding myself with right now are the ones who can give me a good hard hug when I need one.

I feel so lucky to be down in Connecticut with my Mom. We have had plenty of weepy moments but we manage to make each other smile. I realized that despite feeling laden with sadness, I would rather not be a gray cloud. My Dad was known for being generous with a smile and not for lack of heartache and hardship in his life. I am doing my best to follow his example.

Chemical imbalances aside, I think that happiness can be made to some extent. It is a perfect example of "fake it until you make it".

Mom and I were feeling gloomy and so I nudged her sing the wassail song and make the above video with me as a holiday greeting since we didn't have time to send out cards this year. The transition from take one to take four is pretty dramatic. The first time we sang the song it was pretty much the opposite of holiday cheer but by our last the we were certainly making merry and laughing at our mistakes.

I hope that those who celebrated Christmas today had a really good one and those who tried to celebrate but found that they were just "getting through it" had some bright moments.

♫ "Love and Joy come to you and a Merry Christmas too! Bless you and send you a Happy New Year" ♫