The origins of the Christmas story in ‘Baltimore, You Have No Idea’

A long time ago, when I read The Boston Globe every day, there was a reporter-turned-columnist named Jeremiah V. Murphy. He was an engaging writer. I remember a specific column he wrote about divorced fathers separated from their kids during the holidays. The sentiments expressed in the column were deeply empathetic, and the whole idea — newspaper guy writing about life’s struggles in this personal way — stayed with me as I grew up and landed in Baltimore to start my own newspaper career.

The holidays are filled with all kinds of pressure: To be happy, first of all; it’s required, no matter how much you hate the holidays. To bring good cheer and wrapped gifts to friends and family. To entertain. To be entertained.

For the newspaper columnist, there’s a pressure to come up with a good Christmas story. This is a tradition as old as the Dickens — get it? as old as the Dickens! — but it’s a tough assignment. Unless a gift lands on your stoop — someone phones in a tip or story idea — you’re stuck with hounding around for a Christmas column. The other choice is to go with a personal story, share a memory from your own life about the holidays. Problem is, unless your life was filled with fantastic events and charming memories, you probably only have one good Christmas story in you. And, if you’re going to write a newspaper column for a long time — say, 46 years! — then you better go a’hounding for something good, starting in July, or just drop the whole idea.

I allowed myself to write two columns about Christmases from my childhood. One was published in The Sun on Christmas Day 1998. I had started writing a column 19 years earlier, but had put this particular story — about Christmas 1963 at my home in Massachusetts — aside until I felt right in sharing the memory. That column became the final scene of my play, “Baltimore, You Have No Idea,” staging again next month in the Meyerhoff Auditorium of the Baltimore Museum of Art.

A lot of people, still stunned by the election results, are feeling anxious about the year ahead — the next four years ahead — and so more subdued than usual about the holidays and particularly anxious about Thanksgiving with certain family members. I say take it easy. You don’t have to lift spirits if the lift is too heavy right now. Take time to reflect on the good. Indulge a happy memory. Savor the meaningful things that make life worth living. And call me if you have good Christmas story.

The lighting of the Washington Monument in Baltimore takes place this year on Thursday, Dec. 5 from 5-8 pm.