So whatcha doing? Been busy? How are the pets? Got milk?
Seven pages shy of this years edition of holiday magic and like every chapter already presented sugarcoated are the visions of past, present and future as they race through you quicker than actor Jim Carrey changes faces in his latest 3-D attraction A Christmas Story.
“Tis the season to be jolly!” They shout at the top of their mighty lungs expecting one and all to step up and participate with what is required to be a moment of celebration be it whatever religion and or spirituality you study or set aside until your paths been challenged by objects in rear view mirrors you can’t describe.
Jolly? Who uses that word these days?
Jolly is one of those words that’s usually attached to over sized well round men who laugh and laugh and mom could never figure out a politically correct way of saying, “If your uncle keeps dipping his freshly made chocolate chip cookies in beer and whiskey he’s going to snort so loud it’ll push his tail off the edge of Mother Earth.”
Standing nose to nose with each others hands shaking feverishly like we’ve never met before, I’d still walk away from this masked something called jolly wondering, “What was supposed to come from that?”
Grandma Dobrenz used to sternly tell we wicked kids with shoes bigger than our bodies, “Jolly isn’t something you suddenly become…you have to work on it everyday. Every time I see you its gimme gimme gimme. If I give you something, that only makes you happy for the moment not jolly.”
Dictionary.com reports: Jolly
–adjective
1. in good spirits; merry: In a moment he was as jolly as ever.
2. cheerfully festive or convivial: a jolly party.
3. joyous; happy: Christmas is a jolly season.
4. Chiefly British Informal. delightful; charming.
5. British.
a. Informal. great; thorough: a jolly blunderer.
b. Slang. slightly drunk; tipsy.
Wow! I’m loving number five! Those darn British not only have incredible accents but have creative festive words that describe getting a buzz on!
I’m often accused of being number one…in good spirits nearly too merry. Those nearest me would rather see me pull off a number five and relax a bit. The secret to being up beat and positive has nothing to do with being out of control with excessive amounts of energy but rather gaining access to how you want to be treated.
Oh oh…someone call Oprah!
Being happy, jolly, fully spirited is nothing more than an emotion. Who doesn’t want to grab a little bit of this on a daily basis? Getting to it is the killer…which might be one of the key reasons why heroin and meth addiction is currently enjoying an all time high.
Does it have to be?
I love the full unforgettable flavor of a freshly picked orange—man is it ever good for you during a heavily talked about flu infected season—do I run around the studio screaming, “No! No! Don’t bring your illnesses toward this microphone? Nope! I buy boxes of oranges to share with anyone who wants to feel incredibly happy when that nice thick peel is impatiently ripped off and those lips jump into that itty bitty tingle of, “Oh my god!”
Elvis Presley was onto something during his days of living…he never stopped giving. The King of music would rent movie theaters and bowling alleys then sit back and watch those nearest his heart have an incredibly jolly time being themselves…laughing, playing, letting go of everyday pressures and anything else that kept their dreams from reaching the highest peaks.
Now you can bring Oprah in because this is what the book The Secret is about. What you set free is coming right back. Good, bad, pretty, butt ugly or holy cow that duck billed platypus looks just like my second grade teacher Mrs. Vegi.
We make Christmas too easy to be happy. We wrap and wrap, tape then tape some more, hang lights from the outside gutters while wasting billions of watts of electricity keeping air in those cute and cuddly inflatables that turn front yards into a private Disney World.
Then we enter the week before the new year hanging our heads, “I hate myself. I want to lose weight. I want to get along with people. I want to love my job. I want to find a better this, locate more of that, write this, bake that, feed, borrow, return…blah blah bonk!”
I must have been wearing a sign on my forehead yesterday that read, “The doctors in…”
Curtis the intern found enough trust in his soul to step from his incredibly shy shell and simply say, “Is there a way to block out bad memories of years past so that this year something positive can finally ring its silver bells so Clarence can get his wings?”
Wow! Would you rather win millions from the Power Ball Lottery or score forever more Christmas jolliness? Harrison Ford was hunting down the wrong treasure during his Indiana Jones days…the most valuable gem on the planet has nothing to do with diamonds and statues…people want to feel jolly at Christmas every Christmas.
Where can you find it? Does it exist? Who is the keeper of the golden key leading to the multiple maps required to sipping on the incredibly sweet juices of something so pure as jolliness?
The next time you use the bathroom, put down the seat, flush the John, step over and wash your hands then dry them. Right before you reach to turn off the light so you can mosey back into your world of already built foundations and structures, slowly turn around and wink at that person in the mirror. That’s what Santa does every year since the moment you were born. He looks at your tiny innocent eyes with rosy red cheeks filled with billions of Christmas dreams and wishes and winks the person inside.
I recently wrote a piece of poetry about that freak:
There you are, standing in the mirror—still got those fun kid eyes.
Here we go, dressed up in adult clothes—still joking about being along for the ride.
You and me, don’t agree—just showed up one day pretending to be me.
And I don’t know what you mean.
There you are, standing ever so tall—your eyes they look away.
You and I, need to find—a reason to believe in each others…dream.
Talk to that person in 2010 and I guarantee your life will become connected to jolly.
Steal my art…
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
No comments:
Post a Comment