This piece is based off of a the 4-note melody that makes up the lyric “happy new year” in “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”

I posit that everyone is tasked with being an entertainer around the holidays — no matter what’s going on, you are expected to be jolly and festive with coworkers, crazy uncles, and the the like.

Christmas is more complex than its songs would suggest, and I wanted to write a piece that looked at both the traditional melodies that bring us joy mixed with the underlying melancholy from being cold, busy, and broke from buying too many gifts.

“Hap-py-new-year” rings throughout owing to the cyclical nature of the Holidays — they happen, you eat, you think about all you’ll do in the new year.

The song ends as it begins with chimes signaling the new year.