Most wonderful time of year: A counterpoint

Nearly 60 years ago, Andy Williams debuted his Christmas classic “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”
The official release date was October 1963 and the sound of a couple notes and lyrics often elicits feelings of holiday cheer. That’s all well and good. The Christmas classic is in the discussion and deserves inclusion in the top tier of most-beloved Christmas songs. However, I’d like to submit a counterpoint…what actual proof is there that Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year? Is there a marketing measurement or analysis that can definitively bear this out? It certainly qualifies as the “busiest time of the year” and one of the most “stressed out times of the year”? Why can’t Easter be the most wonderful time of the year?
This isn’t to disparage Christmas and the holiday cheer surrounding December and New Year’s Day, though I suppose it could possibly come across that way. Both dates are important on the Christian church-year calendar. Christmas is about Jesus’ birth. Easter is about his Resurrection.
Easter occurs on the first Sunday after the “Paschal” full moon, which has other names related to spring but that’s for another column. Without getting into more detail about lunar dates and mathematical calculations that may or may not be related to the equinox, the date of Easter takes place between March 21 through April 18.
Just how did Christmas rise of the top of American holidays? Perhaps it’s because it fits together so nicely with the celebration of Thanksgiving in late November.
In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation of Thanksgiving to be held the last Thursday of November at the request of Secretary of State William Seward, probably set in motion the transformation of holiday cheer being more popular than Easter and springtime blooms. Lincoln didn’t order disc jockeys at radio stations to start playing Christmas music the day after Halloween. He didn’t tell retailers to start selling Christmas candy and stocking stuffers in early November. He didn’t give a presidential address in which he encouraged TV networks to run ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ on NBC every Christmas Eve (or “A Charlie Brown Christmas” or “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” in early December). Lincoln also didn’t force homeowners to spend lavish amounts of money on light displays and decorations to impress others in the neighborhood.

Easter, despite its lack of Jolly Old St. Nicholas, gift-giving and office reveling, tends to offer more optimism. The school year is still in full swing, but the end is near. For this year, it’s only about a month until graduation for the local high schools. That means summer, right? Or at least planning for summer vacation (or the countless activity camps) and all that entails. In late April, it’s time to get the vegetable garden going. Hopefully, most (if not all) of the frost advisories are over, though that unfortunately wasn’t the case earlier this week.
Spring sports are here, with soccer, track & field, baseball, softball. It’s an increasing abundance of light, and that is sure to evoke happier and more optimistic vibes.
There is the potential for not very glamorous weather at times, but there also is more going on. Cancellations due to weather can (and often) still occur, but it (thankfully) won’t be due to an ice storm or blizzard-like conditions.
While busier Easter time schedules can be hectic and crazy at times, I’m more likely to favor a holiday that has the potential for warmer weather around the corner, though this also comes with a price: Improved weather means there is more to do outside.
I’ll also submit this: Easter bunny Peeps are better than gingerbread, right?
-Thanks for reading!
Daniel Winningham is the managing editor of the Republic-Monitor. He can be reached at 573-547-4567, ext. 227 or email editor@perryvillenews.com.