I love to laugh and to hear laughter! It’s amazing how infectious and healing it is. I am convinced that we don’t laugh near enough, especially during stressful times. It would almost seem to be an oxymoron – laughing in the face of trials and challenges, but Readers Digest has a section in their magazine called “Laughter, The Best Medicine”, and I would have to agree.
One year for Christmas when I was a kid Santa brought my youngest sister a stuffed Disney character, Goofy. Goofy had a voice-box inside and when pressed it laughed hysterically for 5 minutes. That’s all it did… laugh… a great big belly-laugh. I remembered seeing Goofy at Toyland at the Bon Marche, and my dad finding it an absolute hoot, we all did. We were delighted when he was under the tree Christmas morning. When you pressed Goofy’s voice-box he would began his insatiable laughter, slowly at first, then picking up momentum. You couldn’t help but smile, our smiles then became giggles, and our giggles turned into uncontrolled laughter. Times were hard during the 60’s for my parents to make ends meet especially when they had 3 little girls – and they were just “kids” themselves. During the years we had Goofy we were actually comforted and uplifted from time to time by his endless laughter. Santa knew our family was going to need a good belly-laugh now and then.
I am also reminded of a road trip my husband and I took to the ocean several years ago where laughter was a welcome companion. The 2 hour drive turned into 4. Ten minutes into the trip we sat in bumper to bumper traffic. My husband became very frustrated at everyone on the road. He was huffing and puffing and telling me how he could drive better inebriated than 95% of everyone else on the road when they are sober, etc… Yikes! I feared our lovely weekend get-away was starting off on the wrong foot. So I thought I better come up with something to distract him. I Googled” jokes” on my iPhone, and for the next 3 1/2 hours I read my husband jokes and riddles, to his delight. We laughed the whole way to the ocean and when we finally arrived, we were both in great moods and the time had passed by quickly.
The Christmas season can be filled with a lot of stress and emotion. There is so much to do, so many functions, so much money to be spent. It can make a person grumpy. But I am challenging myself to not let the stress of the season get the best of me. And when something does go sideways, I am going to remember to try and find the humor in it. There is something about laughter that cleanses the soul and clears the mind.
Join with me in making laughter our motto as we wind up into full Christmas mode this next week.
Here are a few quips to get you started. Warning: they are corny, but corny is good… right?
How did Scrooge win the football game?
The Ghost of Christmas passed.
It was Christmas and the judge was in a merry mood as he asked the prisoner, “What are you charged with?”
“Doing my Christmas shopping early,” replied the defendant.
“That’s no offence,” said the judge.
“It is if you do it before the shops are open,” countered the prosecutor.
Do you know what would have happened if there had been Three Wise Women instead of Three Wise Men? The women would have: asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, and brought practical gifts (like diapers!)
‘Dashing through the snow, in a one-horse open sleigh, or the fields we go, laughing all the way, ha,ha,ha…’
The Crystal Heart 
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