A Paradox

Dear Eugene,

I'd love to write about Christmas for the next two months, for that's how long I want it to last.  From now till Dec 25 (or maybe a couple of days after that) I will play nothing but Christmas music, the best melodies mankind has created and so many of them.  I would love to outdo Chesterton, not in insight or volume of writing of course, but in earnestness to speak about Christmas.

But where do I start?  I'll need time and space to compose a tune worthwhile, and I strained my back raking leaves.  I actually need to get off the keyboard, like, right now.



So I will do only this today, to share my favorite Christmas song from Elvis, which also happens to be my favorite Elvis song.

And maybe a few more words.

I was in shops checking out Christmas stuffs yesterday.  The sight and sound and smell were all very familiar and superficial but I couldn't get enough of them.  Like the Elvis song.  And in that way I think Elvis really got it: bouncing around like a cheese-ball as he often did he never trivialized the sacred.  And if he did I think he intended to scandalize, to wake people up.  There is an aching vulnerability deep inside too tender to not be wrapped up in superficiality, a sort of contrivance to allow access and invite exploration, generous enough to risk appearing vulgar, sentimental, obscene.

"Christmas is built upon a beautiful and intentional paradox; that the birth of the homeless should be celebrated in every home."  I think Chesterton would have enjoyed Elvis.

Yours, Alex

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