Christmas Is Easy When Love's Around

Shortly before Christmas last year Tey Punsalan (aka TeyMusic) one of my friends at YouTube (whom I had befriended a couple of years before she had become a rapidly rising talent in the U.S. music industry) had a contest in which the winner could receive for free her latest CD which had for its cover song a song which Tey wrote herself- Christmas Is Easy When Love's Around.

Tey notified me about the contest through a personal email she sent me.

All I had to do was write on the topic why Christmas Is Easy When Love's Around, submit it and it would be judged by a couple of judges at an internet web-based radio station that Tey was doing some promotional work for.

So I sat down and wrote my own personal essay on the subject of her song and emailed it back to her.

I didn't win the contest but Tey thought it was an excellent piece of writing just the same.

So seeing as how we're now only a few weeks away from Christmas, I thought I'd post this entry here at Blogger.

This is from my November 26th, 2008 email to Tey:


Hi Tey:

Well I don't know! lol! That seems like a hard topic to write about... why Christmas is easy when love's around. But I'll give it a shot.

I suppose it's the stories and movies associated with Christmas which gives one the feeling that Christmas is easy when love's around.

Particularly reading Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol or watching the 1951 movie version Scrooge with Alistair Sims.

It seems all the Christmasses that Scrooge spent alone or spent being mean to others weren't either happy or easy Christmasses for him.

It was only when he allowed himself to love or be loved that Christmas became happy and meaningful to him.

And that seems to be the message behind a lot of movies that come out during the Christmas season- Christmas is only easy and a joy to behold when love is truly in the air.

One of my favourite movies this decade has been the film Love Actually that starred Hugh Grant.

I love that movie!

And it's set against the background of the Christmas season. And in all the stories they told in that film which ended up being interconnected with one another at the end, that seemed to be the overriding message- Christmas is easy and becomes a time of joy when love's around.

And as the film showed it need not only be romantic love that makes Christmas special- it can be that love that's known as friendship.

That was seen in the story in the film of the aging rock star played by Bill Nighy who earns the Christmas #1 song hit in the UK for that Christmas singing a song Christmas Is All Around (which is a paraphrase of the lovely song Love Is All Around from the movie Four Weddings And A Funeral).

It turns out that the Bill Nighy character Billy Mack does win that coveted Christmas #1 spot on the UK music charts.

And one of his rewards is to be invited to Sir Elton John's Christmas Eve party- something Billy relishes.

But his longtime manager- the one who helped Billy get to the top of the charts the first time around- and even harder got Billy to the top of the charts again when his career seemed to be on the decline- isn't invited to join Billy at Sir Elton John's party.

And so the manager- Billy's only real true friend- it looks like he's going to be spending Christmas Eve alone in his tiny apartment.

And then Billy shows up at his door. For at Sir Elton John's party, it dawns on Billy what Christmas is really all about. It's about love and friendship. And how can he spend Christmas Eve with people who are really only acquaintances and not true friends?

He comes to his manager's apartment to spend Christmas Eve with his true friend.

Sometimes one can be alone and not feel lonely.

Sometimes one can be in a crowd and feel terribly alone.

It depends on one's mindset- one's frame of mind- and one is happiest when love is around.

One may be standing alone in the moonlight on a snowy night gazing at the icicles hanging from the trees over a frozen pond.

And one may not feel alone.


For when you come back from your walk, you return to a house of a cozy fireside and singing and happiness and joy with friends and family and loved ones.

On the other hand, one could be on a dance floor in a wild party and look around and see overindulgence in alcohol and plenty of kissing and flirting but no real meaning behind it- only the effects of lust and too much drink. One stares around at the crowd at the party and one does not see a genuinely friendly face. Only a gathering of people who "want to use you'. And one feels so terribly alone.

2000 years ago in a stable, a child is born. Seemingly alone. With only the breath of animals for warmth.

But the Child looks up and sees love.

Sees love shining radiantly in the eyes of His mother.

Sees love reflected in the eyes of His foster father.

And the Child smiles.

At the same time, Caesar Augustus presides over a banquet in Rome. He receives many smiles and salutes at the banquet.

But towards the end of the evening, as he stares at his own reflection in the bottom of an empty chalice of what seconds ago held wine, Augustus the Ruler of the World pauses.

People smile and bow to him.

But do they care about him- Octavian Caesar the person?

Or do they only see him for his position- Caesar Augustus- Emperor?

And Caesar Augustus- ruler of the world and god of this particular age- presiding over a huge banquet attended by hundreds- feels so terribly alone.

What a difference the feeling of love can make in any situation.

And it's for this reason- Christmas is easy when love is around.