12 Days of Christmas Advent Calendar – December 18

December 18 – Kate Price

I’m admitting a lot of things with this answer. Sentimentality, my age, how easily I can be brought to tears, all sorts of things. But my all-time favorite Christmas song has got to be Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. But not just any version. It has to be John Denver and Rowlf the Dog from the Muppets special. For my money, there is nothing sweeter or more pure than a towheaded young country singer harmonizing with a bunch of Muppets, dreaming of a brighter future.

 

The song has always seemed kind of desperate hopefulness. And the first time I saw the special (as a little girl, but I’m not saying how little), it really spoke to me. Things may be tough, but there’s a whole new year coming up. New chances, a new beginning, and Christmas puts everyone into such an optimistic spirit that it’s hard to see how anything could go wrong.

 

Christmas last year (2007) I was in… well, to call it a bad place would be an understatement. Suffice to say, it was less than a merry Christmas. But I heard the song on the radio and I knew that things would get better.

 

This year, I’m going to do more than ‘muddle through somehow.’ I’m going to get a big glass of eggnog, curl up on the couch with my girlfriend to watch some ridiculous cartoon on TV, and I’m going to toast to the great year I’m leaving behind while looking forward at the great year coming up.

 

Merry Christmas to everyone out there!

 

– Kate Price appears in the novel On the Air, as well as short stories Rounding Home, The Christmas Boat, Baked Goods, Fairytales of Squire’s Isle and Eating Out in Squire’s Isle.