Shedding Tears for The Baby Jesus

People have been giving me a hard time ever since I mentioned that the Baby Jesus has been making me cry lately, so I thought I'd explain some more.

First, I shouldn't say "cry."  Cry is too strong a word.  I scrunch my face up as if I'm going to cry, but no actual tears are shed.  I guess that's getting choked up?

Secondly, not all cheesy Christmas songs make me  cry  get all choked up.  I change the station every time that Christmas Shoes song comes on because really, songs that have no other purpose than trying to make people cry on Christmas piss me off.  It's trying way too hard.  Seriously, the little boy wants to buy his dying mom a new pair of shoes so her feet won't be cold in heaven?  Why don't you just hit me in the face with a frying pan instead?  It'd be much quicker and easier than listening to that song.  Besides, if you want me to cry, the song has to talk about the Baby Jesus.

Now that I have a baby, I fully appreciate what a miracle babies are.  Whether or not the Baby Jesus was the savior of mankind is something everyone has to decide for themselves, but regardless, it's nice to put your faith in the miracle of the birth of a completely innocent mini-human.

So really, it comes down to just two songs that really get me choked up:  Do You Hear What I Hear and The Little Drummer Boy.

My love for The Little Drummer Boy worries me because I feel like I'm turning into Angela from The Office, but I just can't help myself.  The poor little drummer boy  has nothing to give the Baby Jesus except for a song on his drum.  The line, "I played my best for Him, pa rum pum pum pum," is the point where I lose it.  The little drummer boy puts everything he's got into banging that damn drum because all he has is the gift of music.  And then?  The Baby Jesus smiles!   Bwahhh....tears....sniff, sniff.  (Although Eric pointed out the other day that infants don't smile on purpose which ruined it for me a bit...until I countered with the point that this isn't just any ordinary infant; It's the BABY JESUS, Eric...he can smile if he wants to.)  How can you not love the little drummer boy in that song?

Do You Hear What I Hear makes me choke up because it blows my mind that all of Christianity starts with a story about an innocent baby.  The part with the voice as deep as the sea talking to the little lamb give me goose bumps.  Why?  Well, even though I've never been a particularly religious person, every time I hear that I think, "Whoa, what if this all actually happened!?  What if a sweet little baby was sent to earth to save mankind?!  What if a voice spoke to a little lamb?!"  Then my mind gets blown.  (I swear I don't smoke pot....why would you need to if you think like me, I mean, really.)

But the part that really gets me is the part about the baby bringing us goodness and light.  Babies are so nice and soft and lovable and innocent...of course they bring us goodness and light.  My baby brought me goodness and light. (She also brought loads of sleepless nights and dirty diapers...but mostly goodness and light.)

Furthermore, the most played version of this song is the one by Whitney Houston, which then makes me think about how she ruined her career with drugs and Bobby Brown, and it makes me cry even harder.  Why Whitney?  Why!?  We sang The Greatest Love of All at my honor society induction in middle school!  How could you let me down this way?  Look to The Baby Jesus, Whitney.

I suppose following the same reasoning, I should also cry at Silent Night, but they don't play that on the radio very often for some reason.  Sometimes I also get choked up by O Holy Night.  That's my favorite Christmas song, but not because of The Baby Jesus; it's just a pretty song.

This looks like the Baby Jesus we had in our Nativity set growing up.  Except I used to play dolls with the figurines and make the three angels date The Three Wise Men...which probably means I'm going to Hell.