Counting down to a very Merry Christmas and a Healthy News Year to all, a good 2026 full of joy, enough wealth, and happiness.
And that’s the real charm of holiday music: it’s less a genre than a mood ring. Every December, we each reach for the version of Christmas that feels closest to whatever’s stirring inside us. Some years it’s the soft ache of a Nat King Cole ballad; other years it’s the brass-forward confidence of a tune that basically kicks the door in wearing jingle bells.
You can’t legislate taste, and you certainly can’t playlist it into submission. What feels like clutter to one person is comfort to another. A song that makes someone else roll their eyes might be the one that transports you instantly, involuntarily, to a childhood living room lit only by tree lights and the hum of an old stereo.
Holiday music isn’t meant to match; it’s meant to mingle. The sentimental rubs elbows with the silly. The reverent shares shelf space with the downright goofy. And somehow, in that impossible mix, everyone finds at least one song that feels like home.
Maybe that’s the point: Christmas isn’t a single sound. It’s the full spectrum—from the melancholy glow to the glittering brass fanfare and the permission, each year, to choose the one you need.
Staying unbothered doesn’t mean we are numb, detached, or pretending nothing affects us; it means we have learned how to reflect. We have built enough inner space that other people’s urgency doesn’t automatically become ours. We trust ourselves enough to stay steady even when life wobbles.
The real power of being unbothered is that it frees up our energy. Instead of leaking strength into every irritation or misunderstanding, we invest it where it actually matters: growth, joy, and a sense of purpose.
We stop trying to manage people’s opinions or predict every possible outcome, and we start living from a place of grounded presence.
And here’s the quiet secret: the more unbothered we become, the more expansive our life feels. We create room for better connections, clearer thinking, and deeper contentment. We are no longer chasing happiness or bargaining for it. We’re cultivating it by refusing to hand over our peace.
So to all my family members, friends, and frenemies, including those who don’t see eye to eye with me.
Joy to all the good people of this world, everywhere they are learning to enjoy themselves, regardless of what they’re wearing…
A key to living a happy life is not avoiding storms, but learning to stand firmly in the middle of them without losing your center.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2025/12/04/worst-chr…
