Loneliness as an Invitation to Joy

Holiday scenes dwell in collective memory. We may watch a commercial about a family decorating a Christmas tree on a bright December day, while their hands are still sticky from pancakes, and almost remember the morning ourselves. Or we may feel sentimental whenever we pass a stately city brownstone whose bright red door is decorated with a majestic wreath, even if we grew up in the suburbs. We may feel overwhelmed with wistfulness at the sight of children playing in the snow, even if it never snowed where we live.

More so than any other time of year, the holidays bring us all into a unified nostalgia. The unspoken rule is that it should elicit in us a pure happiness.