Have you ever wondered why almost every band has recorded a Christmas album? There is something about this winter holiday that invites us in, that compels us to participate in the festivities by adding our art to it. In an odd turn of events, the entire world becomes quite traditional, no matter how progressive they may say they are. This rich and nostalgic tradition is evident in music, so much so that Christmas music has become something of its own genre. While people may debate over when we're allowed to begin preparation for Christmas (we've recently become pre-Thanksgiving Christmasers), it is almost universal that Christmas music is the first thing to start.

This "Christmas album" phenomenon is a wonderful tradition, yet it sometimes leads to some... interesting music. We all love the classics so much that a thoroughly new Christmas song is rare. What happens instead is that the artist will put their own "twist" on the familiar tune, singing the song with a modern pop flair or adding a brand new chorus (as if "Hark the Herald" really needed one). These, at least in my experience, tend to come off as being unnecessary and a bit grating. The originals are so great, just sing them!

However, you can understand why this might be the case. All artists feel the draw to participate in this holiday, yet artists are also gripped by their desire to do something new. They don't want to sing the same exact song with the same instrumentation and voicing as Bing Crosby. If they did, we'd likely prefer Crosby anyway! So they end up innovating on the songs, sometimes to their own detriment.

This has just recently been made relevant in my own life as I've been attempting to write a Christmas poem. I've had quite a difficult time knowing what to write about and how to write it. I feel the same drive to not write something that has already been written, to be new and interesting. Yet, I find my poem filled with the same furniture as so many other Christmas poems: the nativity, the star, the shepherds and angels, the stable and the trough. But even if I branched out from these, is there really anything to write about Christmas that hasn't been written before? Is there anything new under this winter sun?

So I think I've come to realize that it's okay to not be new. It's okay to write similar things about the same holiday that happens each year. It's okay, because the wonder of Christmas itself has enough variation and complexity to keep us hooked our whole lives. There's a bit of infinity in Christmas, a certain inexhaustibility to it. If I can communicate any sliver of that infinity, then I've done more than enough.

So, I should write about the same old things. And I should write it all in my own voice. I don't need to write like Rossetti or Tennyson, Tolkien or Wesley; I can just write as myself. Doing so, I add my voice to the mighty chorus of mankind, echoing the angels as they rain down their music upon us.

Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!