By Randall Smith

I was sitting hard at work in my usual coffee shop the other day when the song "If Every Day Was Like Christmas" came on. It's that time of year when a lot of places are playing pretty much the same group of Christmas songs, which is pretty much the same group of Christmas songs you would have heard last year, and the year before that, and the year before that.

Not that I'm complaining. But when I heard those sweet lyrics, "Oh, why can't every day be like Christmas," my immediate thought was: "But then we'd have to listen to these same lousy Christmas songs all year long!" We're not talking Adeste Fideles or Joy to the World here. I mean, who would really want to listen to Winter Wonderland and Santa Baby every day for the entire year? So that's one reason why every day shouldn't be like Christmas.

But asking whether every day can be like Christmas is like asking whether every day can be like Thanksgiving. If it were, we'd all be half-drunk and fat as cows. And we'd all be bankrupt from buying presents and there'd be broken toys everywhere and none of us would get any work done and, in short, we'd be miserable.

Hence the Church's wisdom in recognizing the need for liturgical seasons. There are times for celebrating and times for fasting. You don't go too long before you get a nice "feast day," and you don't go too long after that before you're doing another fast.

The year has a rhythm to it, and that rhythm is associated with the major events of salvation history, especially Christ's birth and Second Coming at Christmas, and His death, Resurrection, Ascension to the right hand of the Father, and sending of the Holy Spirit from Easter to Pentecost.

Now I can imagine someone's wonderful old grandmother asking: "Is that man being purposefully obtuse?" To which my reply would be: "If I'm understanding the meaning of the word 'obtuse,' then yes." In my experience, many people's grandmothers love that song, and not just because it was sung by Elvis. (My mother disliked Elvis but still loved that song.)

So I can well imagine a person who loves that song telling me with no little exasperation that the song isn't about perpetuating the eating and drinking and partying of Christmas every day of the year (although I think you'd be wrong to suppose that no one thinks that would be a good idea), no, the song is about perpetuating the feeling of Christmas for the rest of the year:

. . .a glow fills my heart I'm at peace with the world As the sound of their singing fills the air.

Oh why can't every day be like Christmas Why can't that feeling go on endlessly For if every day could be just like Christmas What a wonderful world this would be.

I'm not sure that's much better. I fear it might be a little like asking, "Why can't I have this warm, glowing feeling currently filling my heart about my spouse and baby every day of the year?" Good luck with that. I'm not saying it wouldn't be a good thing. But if you expect the feeling to last, you'll likely be disappointed. And if your "peace with the world" depends on maintaining that feeling, you likely won't have much peace, nor will the world. Feelings come and go. If you expect that, you'll be better off.

Okay, so let's bypass all this business about the song and get right to it. Wouldn't it be great if we could perpetuate the spirit of Christmas all year long? If by that "spirit," we mean the spirit of kindness, compassion, generosity, humility, and selfless giving throughout the year, then yes, absolutely. But how could that be done? I mean, we don't need a national holiday to do it. We have other national holidays that don't inspire those virtues - or any virtues - mostly more vices.

Well, I don't mean to be controversial, but it might have something to do with the "Christ" part, the Incarnation, the whole business about the God who created the world out of love so loving the world that He became man, a baby in fact, born of a woman an - act of love so great that it culmina...