This is probably the heaviest song on the album and the one that came from the most honest place in me.
I wrote it about my mom, who passed away, and the way she still shows up in everything I make, whether I mean for her to or not. Some people disappear when they’re gone. She didn’t. She’s in the memories, the traditions, the things I still wish I could tell her, especially in December.
Also, I actually drove to Birmingham today listening to Christmas music and had a moment when I realized Dan & Shay also have a song called Christmas Isn’t Christmas. I swear I didn’t know that before I wrote this 😂 But honestly, it just made me laugh, because that phrase exists for a reason.
Christmas songs tend to keep things shiny and joyful, but that’s not how December feels when you’ve lost someone. The holidays hit harder. The empty chair. The missing voice. Traditions that don’t land the same.
This song is for the people who feel that during the season. It’s not meant to darken Christmas, just to make room for the parts of it that aren’t wrapped in glitter. Grief belongs in December too, and writing this felt like letting it breathe.
From The Cage,
Canary Vale
