Shoes for Christmas. It doesn’t sound very sad, does it? Well, buckle up, buttercup.
You see, there’s this song called “Christmas Shoes.”
Don’t go look it up, not that you were going to, but it is a black hole of sadness and depression. You may not want to read the rest of this.
The gist of the song is a young boy who is at a department store on Christmas Eve trying to buy fancy, dressy shoes for his sick mother, who is about to die. He doesn’t have enough money, and he’s telling the cashier about his mom’s soon-to-be appointment with death. The man behind him in line hears the story and offers to pay for the shoes.
You know what? Instead of me giving you the gist, let’s just hear it from the horse’s mouth. Here are the lyrics:
“It was almost Christmas time. There I stood in another line
Tryin’ to buy that last gift or two. Not really in the Christmas mood.
Standing right in front of me was a little boy waiting anxiously
Pacing ’round like little boys do
And in his hands, he held a pair of shoes
His clothes were worn and old, he was dirty from head to toe
And when it came his time to pay
I couldn’t believe what I heard him say.
“Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my mama, please
It’s Christmas Eve, and these shoes are just her size.
Could you hurry, sir? Daddy says there’s not much time
You see, she’s been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes would make her smile
And I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight.
“He counted pennies for what seemed like years
Then the cashier said, “Son, there’s not enough here.”
He searched his pockets frantically
Then he turned and looked at me.
He said, “Mama made Christmas good at our house
Though most years, she just did without
Tell me, Sir, what am I going to do?
Somehow, I’ve got to buy her these Christmas shoes.”
So I laid the money down. I just had to help him out
And I’ll never forget the look on his face when he said
Mama’s gonna look so great!
“I knew I’d caught a glimpse of heaven’s love
As he thanked me and ran out
I knew that God had sent that little boy
To remind me just what Christmas is all about.
“Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my mama, please
It’s Christmas Eve, and these shoes are just her size
Could you hurry, sir? Daddy says there’s not much time.
You see, she’s been sick for quite a while
And I know these shoes would make her smile.
And I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight.”
Okay, there’s the whole kit and kaboodle. This song receives criticism because it pulls at people’s heartstrings. But what else is a song supposed to do?
If songwriters wrote boring songs every time, we’d have a lot more songs like “Watch Me Whip,” “I Whip My Hair Back and Forth,” “Achy Breaky Heart,” “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” and “Ice Ice Baby” to name a few.
So they have to write something that garners a reaction. That’s what they do. If they don’t elicit emotion, there’s no point.
The point of this song is that a little boy loves his Mom, and he realizes that she won’t be alive much longer. He wanted to get her something she’d enjoy, or maybe that he thought she would enjoy. But especially something that he would enjoy giving her because he thought it was special.
What else could he do? He can’t give her a cure for what ails her, so he gives her what little he can: a pair of beautiful shoes. And his mother, if I understand mothers, was appreciative of the gift from her son.
One of the songwriters behind “Christmas Shoes,” Leo, lost his daughter ten years after this song came out.
She was hit and killed by a drunk driver. Every Christmas since her death, he and his wife get gifts in the mail from people in honor of their daughter.
The gifts are shoe ornaments. They have an entire tree decorated with only those shoe ornaments. They write the year and who the gift came from on each ornament to keep track of them.
So if you don’t like the song, or if it isn’t for you, think of the writer as you listen to it. The man who lost his daughter and who is comforted by a song he wrote about “Christmas Shoes.”
to the song,
– Caleb
caneymountainblog.com 