By Guest Blogger Jennifer Fischer (my lovely wife)

To say I love Christmas is an understatement.  When Kevin and I were first married I spent the day after Thanksgiving eating leftovers and putting up our decorations.  As the years went on and my collection grew, it took me more than just one day to fancy up our house for the most important guest ever, the coming of our Savior.

Now that our daughter Kyla performs in a Midwest regional Irish dance competition (Oireachtas, pronounced “or-ROCK-tus”) over Thanksgiving weekend, it is the perfect excuse for me to start decorating BEFORE we leave.  I can easily justify this by saying I want everything done so we can come home to an extra pretty house.

I will even admit that during the debacle that was 2020, I was literally bringing up bins from the basement as the last Trick or Treater was leaving our driveway.  “We need a little Christmas,” anyone?  So yeah, I LOVE Christmas.

Growing up, all I had was a radio.  No Spotify, no YouTube, no AppleTunes.  How I survived, I don’t really know.  But I waited to hear the first carol played the day after Thanksgiving.  Back then there was no 24/7 format of carols.  The first one was played, and then you’d wait a few songs and managed to catch another.  Finally, by Christmas Eve, DJ’s were playing only Christmas songs and I was ecstatic.

Up until a few years ago, I clung to the tradition of not listening to Christmas songs before Thanksgiving.  I’m clearly not a Scrooge, it was just extra magical to wait until a certain day.  Yes, 2020 changed my listening AND decorating habits.  And I’m OK with that.

What I’m NOT OK with is when a totally non-Christian, non-Christmas, heck non-winter season song is played ad nauseam and forces me to turn off the radio station and reach for Spotify.  (Granted Mariah Carey gets the same reaction from me but at least she belts out an overplayed CHRISTMAS song!)

I’m talking about Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”  Honestly, I don’t remember hearing it when it was originally released.  I was too busy rockin’ out to some of these beauties (much to the chagrin of my husband whom obviously I was also unaware of at that time.)  The first time I heard it during the Christmas season, it was a cover by Pentatonix.  I was bewildered and thought perhaps I had tinsel in my ears because I couldn’t be hearing the lyrics correctly.  So I looked them up. Sure enough, I was both accurate AND vindicated.

Chris DeVille can take it from here.  Because everything else I want to say he has perfectly summed up for me.