Category: Christmas
Sharing Hope at Christmas — Bob Hope
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John Cheever’s ‘Christmas Is a Sad Season for the Poor’
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The algorithm sells despair. Christmas tells the truth.
I recently did something that I usually avoid. I stayed up too late and wandered into the digital sewer we politely call “the conversation.” X, feeds, clips, comments, rage-bait. I knew it would not end well, but I kept scrolling anyway. By the time I finally shut it off, it was clear that the despair and resentment social media produces are not a bug — they are the feature.
The world you see online is a world stripped of context and proportion. Everything is framed as an emergency, everything demands outrage, nothing asks for wisdom. Human suffering is turned into ammunition, children are turned into slogans, and hatred is dressed up as moral clarity. If you sit with it long enough, you begin to feel foolish for believing in decency at all.
God is not dead. He is not asleep. And the story is not finished, no matter how much the algorithm wants you to believe otherwise.
It made me think of a poem I had not thought about for some time.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Christmas Bells” is often quoted for its opening lines about peace on earth and goodwill toward men. That is usually where people stop.
But Longfellow wrote the poem in the middle of the Civil War. His country was fractured, his own son a casualty of the fighting, and his wife killed in a tragic accident. The poem is an honest look into the mind of a man laid low.
In the early stanzas, Longfellow describes hearing church bells repeat the old promise of peace. Then reality intrudes, cannons thunder, violence drowns out the song. He writes that it felt “as if an earthquake rent the hearthstones of a continent.” That is what civil war feels like from the inside.
That line has stayed with me for a very long time.
We are not there yet, but the pressure is mounting. Anti-Semitism has returned openly, not whispered, but justified. The Jewish people — history’s most reliable early warning system — are being threatened again, and too many voices respond with silence, excuses, or applause. We swore we would never allow this again. Now it is happening all over the West.
At the same time, the world is edging toward wider conflict. Alliances are hardening, borders matter again. But this time, there is no obvious force capable of stabilizing the chaos. America is busy devouring itself. Europe is exhausted. The rest of the world is watching to see what happens next.
This is the part of the poem most people skip.
Longfellow does not rush to hope. He admits his despair. “There is no peace on earth,” he writes, “for hate is strong, and mocks the song.” Honesty is not weakness. Pretending everything is fine when it is not is how civilizations collapse quietly.
But the poem does not end there.
The final stanza matters because it follows despair instead of denying it. Longfellow writes:
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
That is not cheap optimism promising a quick end to suffering. It is a conviction insisting that evil does not get the last word.
That distinction matters a lot right now.
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Blaze Media Illustration
Hope is not pretending the algorithm is wrong. It is recognizing that what trends is rarely what endures. The quiet courage that holds families together, the decency that stops violence when no camera is present, the faith that steadies people when institutions fail — those things do not go viral, but they do prevail. History does not turn on outrage. It turns on character.
Every civilization that survives a moment like this does so because enough people refuse to surrender their moral bearings. They do not deny the danger or excuse the evil. They do not outsource conscience to crowds or machines. They decide, quietly and stubbornly, to let their lives reflect the fact that truth still matters.
Longfellow had not yet seen the end of the war when he wrote that poem. He wrote it because despair was real and hope was necessary anyway. The bells did not silence the cannons overnight. But they reminded him — and us — that order is not an illusion and truth is not negotiable.
God is not dead. He is not asleep. And the story is not finished, no matter how much the algorithm wants you to believe otherwise.
A caregiver’s Christmas
A Christmas or two ago, we arrived in Denver just after Thanksgiving for my wife’s long-awaited surgery — one of a series of complex procedures that could only be done at the teaching hospital there. The hospital was already dressed for the season, garlands hung and trees lit, but I barely noticed. All I could see was the next hurdle in a long medical journey.
After eight days in the ICU, Gracie was transferred to the neuro floor. I wanted her to feel something of Christmas, so I slipped out to a store and returned with a small tree, poinsettias, battery candles for the window, and stockings I hung by the nurses’ message board. A friend loaned me a keyboard, which I tucked into the corner. Music has steadied us through many storms, and I hoped it would do so again.
Christmas felt sharper there. Simpler. More honest. When life strips away what doesn’t matter, what does matter finally comes into view.
When the nurses wheeled her into that room, she entered a tiny Christmas world carved out of tile and fluorescent light. The cinnamon-scented broom was no match for the Montana pines behind our home, but it still brought a smile.
Gracie sometimes sang from her hospital bed as I played familiar carols. You’ll be relieved to know that when a staffer requested Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas,” I politely declined and stayed with the classics. Her song gets ample airplay as it is.
Learning the language of hospital life
I have been a caregiver for a long time. We have spent nearly every major holiday in a hospital, along with most minor ones — birthdays, anniversaries, and the days in between.
Hospitals, however harsh, have become familiar enough that they no longer disorient me. In the last three years alone, we spent nearly 11 months in that same Denver hospital over three difficult stretches. Over the decades, Gracie has been inpatient in 13 different hospitals. After that many years, you learn the rhythms, the noises, the hush, and the hidden grief of those hallways.
At night, before crossing the street to the extended-stay hotel where I lived during that long stretch, I often stopped at the grand piano in the massive lobby and played Christmas hymns. Patients and their families drifted nearby or stood quietly along the balcony with IV poles and wheelchairs. Their faces carried the loneliness, fear, and disbelief that appear when life tilts without warning. When I played “Silent Night,” you could see the change. Shoulders dropped. Eyes softened. A few wiped away tears.
We lived in Nashville for 35 years before moving to Montana, and the only time I felt a lump in my throat at that piano was when I played “Tennessee Christmas.” When I reached the line about Denver snow falling, it hit me harder than I expected. Being far from home — and yet exactly where we needed to be — settled heavily on me in that moment.
Spending Christmas Eve in a hospital is unlike any other day. For a few minutes that night, the music gave all of us a place to breathe. While I’ve grown somewhat used to that world, I could tell my impromptu audience had not. So I played for them.
Not home, but holy
Our youngest son flew in, and a close friend joined us for Christmas Eve. In that small room upstairs, we shared meals, prayed, and laughed through the kind of tears that form when joy and exhaustion sit side by side. It was not home, but it was holy.
On Christmas morning, we filled stockings, opened gifts, and played more music. To our surprise, that hospital Christmas became one of the most meaningful we’ve ever known. We have enjoyed plenty of postcard holidays in the Montana Rockies, with snowy woods and trees cut from behind our cabin. Yet none of those scenes compared to the quiet radiance of that hospital room.
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nathamag11 via iStock/Getty Images
Christmas felt sharper there. Simpler. More honest. When life strips away what doesn’t matter, what does matter finally comes into view.
God stepped into a harsh world, not a perfect one. The first Christmas came in conditions far cruder than ours, yet Heaven filled that stable. That is the story we remember every year: Emmanuel — God with us.
I thought of that as I looked up from the piano in the lobby, seeing the sadness on the faces around me and those watching from above. It brought to mind the crowds Jesus saw when Scripture says He was “moved with compassion” for the afflicted. Unlike me, He did not merely observe sorrow. He stepped into it. He came to bear it, redeem it, and ultimately remove it.
The light that still shines
That night reminded me that the holiness of Christmas is not found in perfect scenes but in God drawing near to people who are hurting. Being in a hospital on Christmas Eve was a fitting picture of how needy we truly are — and how miraculous it is that Christ entered our sorrow, suffering, and loneliness. Emmanuel means God with us, not in theory, but in the raw places where we feel most alone.
I left Denver with a truth I needed to keep close: Joy does not depend on scenery. Any place can become a sanctuary when Christ is worshipped — even a hospital room where monitors beep and nurses whisper through the night.
If you’re facing a season you never would have chosen, may this Christmas meet you with that same comfort. The promise of Emmanuel — God with us — has not changed.
“Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light; the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight,” Phillips Brooks wrote in 1868, steadying his people with the truth that Christ walks into dark streets as readily as bright ones.
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The Spectacle Ep. 310: Merry Christmas From Scott McKay and Melissa Mackenzie!
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Scrambling for a Christmas gift for Dad? We’ve got you covered.
We get it. You’ve spent so much time on other gifts that you may have forgotten one very important person — Dad. While Christmas is just around the corner and it would probably serve you well not to tell anyone when you got these gifts, we have some special recommendations from American companies that your father will love.
Give your dad a gift he’ll remember for years — and be proud to own!
1. Liberty Cigar Company
Liberty Cigar Company
Liberty Cigar Company was founded, fittingly, on July 4, 2015, to rekindle the liberty that was so dearly held by those original American seekers of independence. The compay believes that cigars are a quintessential element of the simple pleasures of leisure, a cornerstone of colonial America’s spiritual foundation. Each cigar is named after influential figures of the founding period, so each has a story. The Founders’ Series was Liberty’s inaugural cigar collection, featuring 13 cigars for 13 founders. Each cigar is blended to reflect the unique spirit of these historical giants. Box of 13 MSRP: $196.00
2. Lynx Defense
Lynx Defense
With an emphasis on thoughtful design, Lynx Defense is your one-stop shop for all your range-day needs. Founded in 2013 to provide an organized pistol bag, Lynx Defense has since grown into a much larger company committed to providing high-quality gun range accessories. The team has over 150 years of combined sewing experience, and the company’s commitment to sourcing and manufacturing its products in the USA guarantees the highest quality. Designed for portability, yet spacious enough for an impressive and organized loadout, the Concord pistol range bag is the solution every shooter at the range has been looking for. MSRP: $369.00
3. KelTec
KelTec
KelTec, established in 1991 with a strong commitment to the Second Amendment and making the world a more secure place, is one of the leading gun manufacturers in the USA and beyond. KelTec proudly employs over 300 American citizens, many of whom are military veterans. KelTec’s guns are marked by cutting-edge and innovative designs, made to “strike a nerve” with customers. The semiautomatic SUB2000 is designed for convenience, featuring Glock magazine compatibility and the capability to completely fold in half for easy storage and carry — optics and all. MSRP: $511.00
4. Daniel Defense
Featuring M-LOK attachment technology with the Daniel Defense MFR 15.0 rail, this made-in-the-USA AR-15-style firearm has attachment points in seven positions and an uninterrupted 1913 Picatinny rail on the top, maximizing functionality. It’s also equipped with a DD improved flash suppressor, built around a cold hammer-forged 16-inch barrel to reduce that flash signature.
5. American Giant
The American Giant lightweight full zip is as light as a T-shirt but as cozy as a hoodie. This casual hoodie is perfect for a few extra layers of warmth on cool summer evenings or crisp spring and autumn days. And it’s from a company that produces its products in the USA.
6. White’s Boots
White’s Boots
White’s Boots, founded by Edward White in 1853 in Connecticut, has been a legacy boot-making company for nearly 175 years. From 1853 to 1972, Edward White’s legacy was passed on to his family, who were always committed to creating boots they could be proud to sell. As a result of the boom of loggers, miners, and mill workers in the Pacific Northwest in the early 20th century, the company moved west to meet the demand. Now based in Spokane, Washington, White’s Boots continues to produce handcrafted, high-quality boots like the Packer. It’s an all-purpose, all-weather stomper, so well worth the investment. It could be the last boot you’ll ever have to buy. MSRP: $725
7. GoRuck
GoRuck
Founded by a former Green Beret in 2008, GoRuck set out to create high-quality rucksacks inspired by those used in the military. In keeping with the company’s special forces roots, GoRuck commits 1% of its annual revenue to supporting communities that protect the American way of life. You can also check out the GoRuck community challenges, which the company has been hosting across the nation since 2010. The new Bullet Ruck x Carryology-Berserker Viking collab showcases the finest craftsmanship and the highest-quality material — all with a lifetime guarantee. MSRP: $795.00
8. Case Knives
Case Knives
Committed to keeping the legacy of American craftsmanship alive for future generations, Case Knives handcrafts its utility knives with an eye to aesthetics. Responsive to its fan base, including an exclusive Collectors’ Club and sponsorship program to inspire younger generations to love American craftsmanship, Case delivers on its promise of excellence. Headquartered in Bradford, Pennsylvania, Case offers a wide range of unique designs among its pocket and kitchen knife collections. The new Crossroads Sod Buster EDC, a fan-favorite design, combines the classic Sod Buster frame with modern enhancements, including a screwed-together build. MSRP: $89.99
9. Gokey
Gokey
Promising timeless style and enduring quality, one company has claimed to be the industry standard in boot-making since 1850. Founded as a premium leather hunting and sporting boots manufacturer, Gokey produces several other leather products, including a variety of shoes, moccasins, and sporting accessories. Handmade in the United States, the boots have been enjoyed by the likes of Presidents Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower and the adventurer turned novelist Ernest Hemingway — a testament to the company’s longevity. The Gokey Super Light Upland Boot, available in Wavy Olive and Chocolate Milonga leather, is built to last in the company’s Tipton, Missouri, factory. If you’re in the area, they will happily hand-measure your feet to find the perfect fit for your boots. MSRP: $580.00
10. Saddleback Leather
Saddleback Leather
Saddleback Leather produces heavy-duty, luxury leather goods that “they’ll fight over when you’re dead.” With the confidence of a hundred-year warranty, you’ll never have to worry about anything going awry with these “over-engineered” products. Visit Saddleback Leather’s new showroom in Azle, Texas, coming next year, to get a feel for the passion with which the company creates these premium leather goods. The large classic leather briefcase easily converts to a backpack when you need your hands free and is spacious enough to fit everything you need for a weekend getaway in style. MSRP: $689.00
11. Warwood Tool
Warwood Tool
Boasting a rich, 170-year history, Warwood Tool has supplied American soldiers, firefighters, woodsmen, landscapers, and homeowners since before the Civil War. To this day, it is said that many generations of the same family have worked at the factory, and ownership has only changed hands seven times. The Pulaski axe, developed by “legendary” U.S. Forest Service ranger Ed Pulaski in 1911, is considered to be “nearly synonymous with wildland firefighting.” A combined axe and mattock blade, it is a versatile tool. Hand-forged by American craftsmen from high-quality steel and American hickory in West Virginia, the Pulaski axe is an elite option for all of your outdoor needs. MSRP: $99.00
12. Unplugged
Adobe
Everyone knows it: Our phone data is constantly being accessed and sold by data brokers without our consent. But what can be done about it? Luckily, Unplugged, Erik Prince’s company, has a secure solution: UP Phone. Featuring an advanced operating system designed specifically for privacy protection and a physical “kill switch” on the body of the phone, you can rest assured that your data is kept private and secure in an increasingly vulnerable world.
