So, in case you hadn't heard, Christmas is basically here. I could write about Black Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Silent Night, Deadly Night, Christmas Evil, Gremlins; any holiday-themed horror. But I won't. I will instead write about something that's too amazing not to be seen, and is very accessible to all of you. (Even the Scarlet Lily...who normally wouldn't go near any of the subjects of my blog with a ten foot pole.)
Last night I watched one of my favorite holiday shows: The Twilight Zone, "Night of the Meek". The Twilight Zone is one of my favorite shows of all time. I own the complete collection, and though I don't watch it as much as I'd like ideally, I am pretty familiar with most of the episodes. "Night of the Meek" concerns an alcoholic man who plays Santa in a department store. He comes into work drunk and falls off his chair, and gets fired. All he wants is to be a real Santa, and he's very downtrodden by his alcoholism and failure in life. He hears some bells jingling, and looks down to find a bag in an alleyway full of toys and gifts. He runs around town giving gifts to everyone he sees.
The man assumes that it's just his wish that has come true for one night, but can't explain the bag to the cops or anyone else. When the toys run out, he feels a certain joy, but is sad at the same time. Walking home he sees a sleigh, with reindeer attached, in the same alleyway where he found the bag. An elf pops out from behind some boxes and tells him that everyone's waiting for him at the North Pole and he needs to get going. The guy gets in the sleigh and rides off into the night as Santa Clause.
It's the sappiest Twilight Zone episode other than "The Bewitchin' Pool", yet it still makes me feel pretty warm inside. Not that the episode doesn't have its own sense of melancholy...thinking about the ending a different way, it's possible that the alcoholic had just let his depression and disease overcome him. Many people succumb to death around the holidays. It's the end of the year, there isn't a lot of light anymore, everyone else is so happy, etc, etc. Maybe, in a delirious state brought on by the tremens, this man hallucinates his last minutes on earth. That doesn't necessarily make this tale sad instead of happy though. A drunk with nothing to live for, and who only wants to be able to bring joy to people instead of disgust, has a waking dream wherein he is Santa Clause and can bring that joy to others, finishing off the night with a sleigh ride back to the North Pole to do it all again next year.
It's a grand thing to get one's most yearned-for wish. And it's a tender thought to think that for some of us, being able to give and spread happiness is the only thing that we want. The guy in the show could've just asked for more booze, or he could have wished for his alcoholism to leave him outright. Instead, caught up as he was in the season of giving, he forgot about his disease as he went about his time playing Santa. The more he fell into the role of joy-bringer, the more completely his affliction left him. That makes for a pretty merry Christmas thought to me.
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