I began this week as I do most weeks – by doomscrolling through the news feed on my cellphone, an experience akin to dog-paddling through the muck in the Slough of Despair. The latest war in the Mideast rages on with horrifying images of innocents suffering unimaginable hardships brought on by zealots who see them only as pawns in a geopolitical game of chicken.

The news on our own political front is toxic and angry and driving more good men and women out of public service.

This week a report issued by a team of 200 international climate researchers in advance of the Cop28 climate summit in Dubai warned that the planet may be approaching not one but five or more catastrophic global tipping points, potentially creating a domino effect that may cause the earth’s climate to spiral out of control, triggering the loss of entire ecosystems, the inability to grow staple crops, mass displacement, political instability and financial collapse.

On the bright side, it turns out that human life expectancy is plummeting, which means most of us won’t have to endure all of that as long as we once thought we would. So, yeah for us!

In the face of those and other harbingers of doom and destruction, Wendy and I did what many people did – we put up our Christmas tree and decorated our house for the holidays. I love Christmas as do many people, particularly those in retail. Despite the rampant commercialization of Christmas (the first Christmas ads appeared on TV this year not just before Thanksgiving, but before Halloween), Wendy and I do our best to follow the wise counsel of animated TV star Bart Simpson who reminds us not to lose sight of the real meaning of Christmas – the celebration of the birth of Santa Claus.

More cynical fans of Christmas believe that Santa has it right – visit people once a year.

I can’t speak for others, but for me the surest way to put aside thoughts about the imminent decline and fall of Planet Earth for a moment is to sit with Wendy in our living room once the tree is up and the house is decorated and enjoy an egg nog while listening to Christmas albums. (For you younger readers, an “album” is a thin circular petroleum product that, when spun at high speeds and scratched with a diamond stylus, produces music – think of it as a larval stage of Spotify and Pandora.)

We have a tradition where we always start out playing our holiday albums in the same order every year – first we listen to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Christmas album followed by one by the Chieftans. Third is We Three Kings by The Roches, then Jimmy Buffet’s Christmas in the Caribbean and after that its every person for themselves. I love all Christmas music so long as it isn’t The Little Drummer Boy. Evidently I have a very low Pa-Rum-Pa-Pa-Pum threshold.

The only thing I like better about Christmas than listening to Christmas music at home with Wendy is listening to Christmas music in the company of friends and family. If food and holiday beverages are part of that equation, then so much the better. Often such occasions call for a toast from the host. If you find yourself in such a position but can’t think of an appropriate holiday toast, please feel free to borrow from a couple of my favorites: “I would rather be with the people in this room than with the finest people I know.” “Here’s to those who’ve seen us at our best and seen us at our worst and can’t tell the difference.” “Here’s to our friends and family, and the strength to put up with them.”

When I am in the company of friends and family over the Christmas season I find that I can finally put aside the state of the world and just revel in the simple joy of being alive and having friends and family to share that life with. At those moments, the veil between this world and the next feels exceedingly thin. Maybe it just takes being in the right place and having the right soundtrack to see it.

Merry Christmas.

Tom Tyner of Bainbridge Island writes a weekly humor column for this newspaper.