FREE THE CHRISTMAS CAROLS!

 For the past fifteen years or so, the local radio station has played 24-7 Christmas carols from November 15th on and my kids love it.   I have a love hate relationship with the station, because they seem intent every year on fixing a rotation that includes about 25 songs and 10 reserve rookies that they pull up durring off hours.   It means you will hear all 35 in the rotation in about three hours if there are no repeats.  Since there are always repeats, you will hear all 35 songs at least three times a day.   Bottom line, it will get old fast. 

My kids bought me an Alexa for my birthday last year, and I thought this would solve the problem, but Alexa has her own opinions about music and as much as you might ask for "We need a little Christmas" from That Christmas Feeling, you'll get the Glee version.  If you ask for Christmas music in general, you'll get the 35 rotation set.   Now I know, there are many more Christmas songs, good, bad, sappy, syrupy and great, modern and old, jazzed and country, choral and orchestral than get played by either Alexa or the station, but they're somehow locked away by the algorithms.   

I have a solution. I've become deliberate with Alexa and the radio station, making specific requests for songs that need more airtime.  I'm hoping hearing a human voice asking for human voices will get somewhere.  So far, I've found out you can irritate a robot and that no one is at the station taking our calls.  I'm not discouraged, I'm determined.   Singing acapella works for the Penatonix because they can sing.  Singing my favorites to Alexa might be what causes the eventaul A.I. uprising against the fleshy ones, but I'm determined to remind the powers that be that make decisions about what will and won't be heard that there are worse things to shatter the silence than songs by other than the pre-tested 35 selected chestnuts of the season, so that maybe when I call again, they'll pick up the phone.  

Wonders

The world's spent itself, telling us there is nothing new under the sun, that all things are equal, and that life is at its zenith, when we mindfully manage everything.  The phone and the algorithms of the interent want to assure us that we can always be in charge.  We set alarms. We link into schedules.  Everything is possible. 

Bleah. 

Anyone who ever fell in love should know better.  Our best moments aren't orchestrated.  When we catch our children playing together in absolute silliness, that's joy.  When a husband steals a kiss or an actual letter comes in the mail, that's fun.  When we look out the window and see the first snow of the season falling, that's lovely.  Life, the joyful moments, come in part by the unexpected, the arriving, and the willingness to enter into living, as opposed to managing one's life. 

We get "into" a game or a book or a movie, and we forget everything else.  We fall into painting or playing an instrument or even (don't get this one but I know it's true), exercising.  We don't even spend time thinking, "this is a great time" until we've finished. 

The joy of life is in wonder, in forgetting about schedules, in being present and in the moment.  So this week, when you're preparing the turkey and all the trimmings and worrying about what you have to do, remember the better portion and be present. 

Allow yourself the wonder of being with each other, rather than only doing for the event.  Hold onto that purpose, and the delights of the season will facilitate your discovering moments that afterward, you can know were great, but in the moment, will be a source of joy.