No sun, no Bob

This morning on the way to work, I was flipping through stations and "Brown-Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison was on 104.1. I couldn’t listen to it. It seemed wrong. I flipped to Cities 97. I listened to them talk for a while, and then Bob Marley came on. That too felt wrong...and I love Marley! On to 101.3 (which means I'm digging deep) and Jesse McCartney’s "no stress no stress no stress" was on. Wrong.

All of those songs feel like summer to me. I should be wearing a tank top and rocking out to them with the windows rolled down, not bundled with a scarf and mittens, and snow falling outside. Landon Pigg’s "Falling in Love at the Coffee Shop" feels OK. Or anything by Damien Rice or Dido or Bon Iver. Those are appropriate. Those feel winterish to me.

And Hem and Nickel Creek are fall. Definitely fall.

This mirrors the sermon in church yesterday. Pastor talked about how some people don’t like listening to Christmas carols during advent (the four weeks leading up to Christmas in the church calendar). Maybe it’s not that they dislike it, but they feel it’s wrong. You should not sing "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" until Christmas Eve. The angels do not herald until Jesus is born. (But how awful! I mean, I snuck in my Sarah McLachlan Christmas album a week before Thanksgiving! I didn't even wait until December.)

I think we also reserve Christmas spirit/giving for the month of December. It’s generally when people are most giving. Thoughtfulness abounds! When I worked at the coffee shop (unfortunately not the one where Landon Pigg fell in love), tips were always better in December. During the weeks before Christmas, people pack shoeboxes of goodies for needy children through Operation Christmas Child. They adopt boys and girls and families to give gifts or food to. They volunteer extra time at food pantries. They drop quarters in the Salvation Army buckets. What if a Salvation Army worker were waving their bell in the middle of August in front of Wal-Mart? Weird!
Can you imagine gift-giving in June? Multiple family gatherings in April? Time-consuming, but oh-so-yummy sweets complete with red hots in May? Not so much. Not so often. If people walked around in the month of February with the same childish grin on that they wear during the holiday season, we’d think something was wrong with them--sadly.

The point to yesterday’s sermon was that actually we do have reason to celebrate. We can hark now. We don’t need to wait four more weeks. And maybe during all the days of 2009—not just those in December—we should try to act a little more holiday-ish. I mean, maybe not put up the Christmas tree and lights, but put others first. Give random gifts. Volunteer for an extra shift. Make some cookies and bring them next door. We shouldn't pack away our kindness and pleasant attitude with our ornaments.

But I’m still not gonna sing "everything little thing’s gonna be alright..." while it’s snowing out. Sorry, Bob.