BY PATTIE MIHALIK

As I took my morning walk today I found myself singing “Jingle Bells.” What was different this time was that I actually thought about the words.

“Dashing through the snow,

In a one horse open sleigh,

O’er the hills we go,

Laughing all the way.”

What struck me is how this is a song about simple joys.

It’s not truly a Christmas song as it has come to be regarded.

I double checked Google, and sure enough, “Jingle Bells” wasn’t written as a Christmas song. Instead, it was written in 1857 by American composer James Piermont.

The son of a Unitarian minister, he wrote the song for entertainment at Sunday school on Thanksgiving Day.

The third verse we never sing tells us the song is really about boys having fun way back when “fun” was impressing girls by racing through snow.

I didn’t know any of that when I thought about the song on my morning walk. What I did know was that, to me, it was a song about simple joy that came from a positive outlook on the world.

Take that same scene — dashing through the snow in an open sleigh — and think about it from a negative viewpoint. What if, instead of seeing that action as fun, the writer felt the cold of the day that felt even colder because they weren’t in an enclosed buggy. They were in an open sleigh. I can almost feel the cold on my face thinking about it.

I wasn’t thinking about all that on my morning walk. I was thinking about how something simple can be so joyful — if we let it … if we take time to appreciate a simple moment.

Coincidentally, I had just enjoyed an incredible night being part of my friend Andy’s lighted boat parade.

Oh, I have to tell you the story about how the lighted boat parade came about in our small community.

When Andy bought a house here 12 years ago, he picked one because it was located on a canal that went on for about 26 miles. Andy says his first thought was how a pontoon boat would be perfect for there.

One of the things I love about Andy’s story is that he didn’t go out and buy an expensive new pontoon boat. When new, those little babies can cost between $18,000 and $60,000, depending on size, engine and quality.

A new pontoon boat the size Andy bought would be at least $30,000. I believe he paid $2,000 because the boat was old and needed work.

Andy fixed it himself, and in so doing, he created tons of fun for the entire community.

Let me explain. Instead of taking the pontoon boat in the nearby Gulf of Mexico for occasional trips, Andy keeps it in his backyard and only travels on our canals.

As someone with a big heart who finds joy when he can make others happy, he started giving rides to anyone who wanted to go.

He would post a planned pontoon trip on our community social media site, offering free rides to the first 10 people who responded.

Those nightly rides grew to be wildly popular, so he put a new twist to the rides. He planned a Sunday morning trip with four other pontoon boat owners, again offering free trips to those who responded first.

I went along and wrote a story on it that I aptly called “Cruising Down the River on a Sunday Afternoon.”

I got an email from a negative guy who said I erred.

“It’s not a river,” he said. “It’s a spittoon, and it’s ridiculous to ride up and down that spittoon and call it fun.”

A negative guy like that would be somewhat like the negative guy I talked about in the “Jingle Bells” song. Instead of feeling the joy of being in an open sleigh, Negative Guy complains about the cold.

There are negative guys and gals everywhere. Fortunately, there are a lot of people like Andy who enjoy making others happy.

Andy owns at least two old pontoon boats. For Christmas, he puts lights on them and travels up and down our canals. The first year he did it the newspaper called it a lighted boat parade.

Every year since, Andy made sure our community had a lighted boat parade. It gets better every year.

This year I was thrilled that my husband, my friend Jeanne and I were on Andy’s boat. Santa was there, too.

We were just a bunch of big kids having fun, thanks to Andy.

My hats are off to him for being the kind of guy who likes simple joys like looking at the stars while slowly cruising through the canals.

I’m always immensely pleased when I can share that simple joy.

This Christmas season, I’m enjoying other simple joys: Cooking a meal for neighbor and listening to Christmas carols are just two of those joys.

My favorite Christmas CDs are Dan Gibson’s “Christmas in the Country,” complete with nature sounds, and Mannheim Steamroller, “Christmas in the Aire.”

Ahhh, what joy I feel when I hear them. For me, it’s these simple joys that make the season.

Unlike other things that end, simple joys can continue all year if you stay open to them.

Wishing you many simple joys in your future.

Contact Pattie Mihalik at newsgirl@comcast.net.