I adore the Christmas season; the lights and atmosphere, especially where I’m from, are so vibrant this time of year. The decorations are my favorite part. When I was home this past weekend to grab a few things and try 7 Brew, I was greeted with Christmas spirit — and a lot of Grinch merchandise.
But…
There’s one decoration that I don’t understand. It’s the decorations that either spell out or just say “joy.”
I get it, joy to the world after Jesus was born. That’s what Christmas is truly about. Why joy is only associated with Christmas is my bigger question. Joy is an emotion that can be felt 365 days a year, but why is it only acknowledged around Christmas?
It’s understandable with the Jesus trope to circle back to that quickly. People felt understandable amounts of joy when they found out their savior was born, wouldn’t you?
I truly think my biggest issue is with how performative the decorating is with joy. There’s a neighborhood my aunt used to live in that decorates for Christmas, and it’s a public spectacle. One year, one of the houses had a huge display centered around the word joy. For me, personally, it was a little much.
It felt very in my face.
There are several words that associate with Christmas, inside and outside of the religious setting. There’s Santa, gifts, tree, holly, etc. Why joy specifically?
Every holiday does have its own word, though, if you think about it. Halloween has spooky, Thanksgiving has thankful, and the list goes on. Christmas just happens to have joy as its patron word.
Joy sets back to the roots of the holiday, why it’s a holiday. Joy expresses the feelings of this time of year; it is “the most wonderful time of the year” after all.
People express the joy they feel this time of year all the time. Whether it’s the parties, gifts, activities, or religious aspects, people are expressing how happy they are. They don’t walk around expressing their genuine joy for St. Patrick’s Day, for example.
Yeah, they’re happy or excited. Joy isn’t the keyword for expression in this sense besides Christmas.
Joy really captures the Christmas season. This three-letter word embodies what people who celebrate are feeling for all 25 days of December. As much as I don’t truly understand why it’s the word joy that is associated with Christmas, it still makes sense.
Key Christmas words: joy, Santa, gifts, tree, and holly.