christmas at frickin' dennys

It doesn't escape me that my favorite christmas song is also one of the saddest songs I know. It's not a lyric I can relate to in a literal way, I just love the writers take on the holiday.

I understand that to is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year and all that; and I will concede that I do have some wonderful memories of this time of year, but it is by far my least favorite holiday. I hate the rabid consumerism associated with it but that is not the main reason. The holiday just has never really clicked with me on a base level. Norman Rockwell I am not. This year has it's own set of unique circumstances associated with it that in no way make it likely to change that – seven days out it is shaping up to be the consummate example of “just another day”. I do not find this depressing, I am merely dispassionate about the entire affair. This is not generally much of a conversation topic among my friends and I – most people take my feelings about it as a reason to try and “make it better”. I see the reasoning, and appreciate their motives. I don't think of my lack of christmas cheer as a problem, however, it is just the way it is. To be brutally honest, the only thing I really love about this holiday is watching my children tear into their gifts, and that isn't on the menu this year.

Joyeux noel, everyone. Peace, love and good happiness stuff to you all.


“they got Christmas Muzak
piped in through the ceiling
and the refills of coffee
are always for free
and the waitress on graveyard
and the surly night manager
are wishing that all of us losers would leave

there’s a star on the sign
at the Texaco Station
like the star long ago
on that midnight clear
as I look all around
at these cold, empty faces
I doubt that you'd find many wise men here

and I'm dreaming about
a silent night
holy night
when things were alright
and I'm dreaming about
how my life could have been
if only, if only, if only
but somewhere down the road
I gave up that fight
merry Christmas
it's Christmas at Denny's tonight

once I had a home
and a wife and a daughter
had a company job
earning middle-class pay
then Lisa got killed
by a car near the schoolyard
and my wife started drinking
just to get through each day

I will never forget that little red wagon
turning to rust all alone in the rain
one morning I flagged down
a truck on the highway
I just couldn't bear to go back there again

and I'm dreaming about
a silent night
holy night
when things were alright
and I'm dreaming about
how my life could have been
if only, if only, if only
well, it's not just the blind man 
who loses his sight
merry Christmas
it's Christmas at Denny's tonight

they say
life's made of cruel circumstance
fate plays the tune and we dance
dance til we drop
in the dust and we're gone
and the world just goes on

the cop at the counter
he's the guardian angel
he watches these orphans
through dark mirrored shades
and the register rings
like a bell sadly tolling
for the fools we've become
and the price that we paid

oh when I was a boy
I believed in Christmas
miracle season to make a new start
I don't need no miracle, sweet baby Jesus
just help me find
some kind of hope in my heart

and I'm dreaming about
a silent night
holy night
when things were alright
and I'm dreaming about
how my life could have been
if only, if only, if only
but I'll still be here
at the morning's first light
merry Christmas
it's Christmas at Denny's tonight
merry Christmas
it's Christmas at Denny's tonight”


~Randy Stonehill