“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace good will toward men!” — Luke 2:13-14 KJV

“Have yourself a merry little Christmas.” — Judy Garland, Meet Me in St. Louis, MGM 1944; song by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane.

“Have yourself a merry little Christmas.” How many times have you heard people sing or say that, or how many times have you sung or said that. And how many times have you responded or seen other people respond with a shrug, or a nod, or an indifferent and mumbled, “Yeah, right. Whatever.”?

Has the magic finally gone out of Christmas? Is the world too sophisticated, too modern, too “LOL,” too “OMG” and too succeed-by-God to pay attention to Christmas anymore?

What with all of the bustle, the bother and the bionic bugaboos it just seems that Christmas takes up too much time. It’s too much trouble. Is that it?

Or could it be my friends that perhaps — just maybe, mind you — the magic has not gone out of Christmas; it has gone out of you?

But we do have to admit that Christmas, even though it seems to start earlier and earlier every year, faces a lot of competition nowadays, the parts of it that have not already been co-opted by the superstores, that is. The time is fast approaching, if it isn’t here already, that you won’t be able to hear the jingle of the bells above the jingle of the cash registers or the trill of the latest electronic doo-dad we all just have to have. What’s even sadder, if we are not very careful, we won’t be able to tell the difference.

Let’s reminisce for a moment. What are the best times you can remember at Christmas? Maybe when you were smaller. But was it because you knew Santa was coming on Christmas Eve? And did Christmas lose its wonder for you the older you got because one night you found out Santa Claus looked a lot like Daddy?

Somehow, for most of us, I don’t think so. Maybe Christmas held all its joy and wonder for you because you were with your family, because you liked giving your Mama those earrings and your Dad that tie, and even though they had a million other ones almost like ’em, they always said how pretty that gift was, and they meant it. You were with those you loved and those who loved you. I weep for those for whom this was not so.

Can it be that we have made Christmas more complicated than it is? Have we believed it to be crass and commercial for so long that it has finally become so?

Somewhere around 2,000 years ago, a chorus of angels split the skies with a simple truth about love and peace and deliverance and the echoes of that song have not faded. Let me repeat that message: “Peace on earth; good will to men!”

Peace on earth, good will to all people of good faith — in fact, whatever that faith may be. After all, God did so love the world and Jesus does indeed love all the world’s children.

It is no more complicated than that, but it is as eternal as the heavens themselves. So in this season of seasons and on that night of nights, find someone you love. Kiss them gently or shake their hand. Hug ‘em at least twice — once for you and once for me. Refuse to let the pops and whistles of this electronic century and the clamor and busyness of the crowds bother you.

And, oh yeah: Have yourself a merry little Christmas.

R. Garry Glenn is an author, educator, broadcast journalist and world champion weightlifter. He and his wife Jill live in Oakwood.