Reality Christmas with Over the Rhine
My group at work recently got moved to a different department. I don’t necessarily view it is a bad thing, but it certainly wasn’t expected. Being moved from Investments into Risk Management almost certainly makes sense given the type of work that we do, I get to keep my manager who is amazing and his new boss is somebody I haven’t worked with before, but I knew socially when he worked on our floor and is a pretty good guy. One of the nice things about the Risk group is they do a lot more social things, which I appreciate because while I’m not against social gatherings, I generally won’t think to organize them on my own. So far the events seem to be well thought out and just the right amount of fun while also being appropriate for the workplace. This year as part of one of our larger meetings there was a poll about our favorite holiday activities, foods, songs, etc. The question about favorite holiday song made me laugh because my favorite holiday songs are almost certainly not the same as most folks.
Christmastime Is Here
I’m usually pretty meh on the holidays. Having moved away from home for college/grad school and spending a lot of time fairly far away from family means that the Holidays generally translate to stress rather than joy. Driving from Illinois to Youngstown kind of sucked and driving from Connecticut to Youngstown sucked harder and driving from Connecticut to Illinois sucked the most of all. We spend most of our time trying to recover from the drive only to turn around and do it again. On top of that a lifetime of undiagnosed ADHD and the anxiety that came with it meant that the holidays were more oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit and less happy happy joy to the world.
Reality Christmas
Our very most favorite band Over the Rhine . OtR at it’s core is a married duo who have never shied away from the more uncomfortable parts of life . They have several albums of Christmas music, but while the first on is for the most part traditional with a few hints of what was to come the later albums adhere more to a aesthetic that Karin and Lindford describe as “reality Christmas”. They are, in my opinion, some of the best albums for folks who’s feelings on Christmas are less sugar plumb feelgood nostalgia and a more melancholy (with perhaps a bit of seasonal affective disorder).
OtR are the only Christmas music I’ll listen to, other than the obligatory listen of Last Christmas on Christmas morning in observance of Whamageddon . We rarely fail to catch them when they do their Christmas tour and their upcoming show in Columbus has me very much looking forward to our tradition of celebrating reality Christmas.
In that spirit, here are some of my favorite Christmas songs from OtR:
If We Make It Through December
Originally a Merle Haggard song, OtR put their own twist on it, not listening to the original before recording. As Linford recounted for Rolling Stone :
We wanted just a distant memory of the tune — the ghost of the song — haunting a version that would hopefully be very much our own
Let it Fall
Inspired by a note from a friend, this one never fails to get me teary eyed, especially post 2020
Have you been trying too hard
Have you been holding too tight
Have you been worrying too much lately
All night
Whatever we’ve lost I think we’re gonna let it go
Let it fall
Like snow
‘Cause rain and leaves
And snow and tears and stars
And that’s not all my friend
They all fall with confidence and grace
So let it fall, let it fall
First Snowfall
Another one that hits hard and almost always have me teary eyed. Magnet Magazine says it “cut(s) to the heart of what it means to hold out hope when you’re almost too cold to feel it flicker.” Ahhh, reality Christmas bedrock <3
Oh wait, there’s more
I hope you’ve enjoyed my short list of depressing assed songs. If you dig their sound you can buy their music on Port Merchandise to support a local indy band. Hopefully soon I will post my list of favorite Christmas movies. Unless you’re a bit weird like me I can guarantee there will be a few you haven’t seen in the list =)