Mondays can feel like a big lump of coal in your stocking.

You spend the weekend full of the holiday spirit – picking out a tree, wrapping presents, enjoying a glass of egg nog and the yearly viewing of Emmet Otter.

Then that alarm hits Monday morning, waking you up from that wonderful Christmas dream and bringing you back into the reality of the workweek.

Ugh. For all the joy and merriment of the Christmas season, we still have lumps of coal to deal with in our lives.

Maybe you could use some Monday Morning Music to get you back in the spirit.

What if there was something more to these lumps in our stockings? What if the things we think are meant to upset  us have a deeper meaning buried inside?

These are the questions at the heart of Joel The Lump Of Coal, the new Christmas song from The Killers. Every year the band releases a Christmas tune to benefit Red.

The Killers’ holiday tunes are always original and often explore offbeat and overlooked angles on Christmas like, “If Santa is such jolly, generous soul, why is he so cruel to the naughty kids?”

Joel is a good-natured lump. He lives to keep the North Pole warm and all the workers cozy.

Pool Joel thinks Santa has finally plucked him to be a special gift for an eager girl or boy. But his peers are quick to point out the truth: he’s just a booby prize.

Despite having a task no peaceful lump deserves to endure, Joel never loses hope. When a young boy opens his stocking looking for a present and sees a pile of anthracite, Joel sees a chance to give a beautiful gift to a child who doesn’t deserve it. He’s willing to sacrifice himself for the salvation of someone on the naughty list.

I won’t ruin the beautiful twist at the end of the song. You’ll have to listen to hear how Joel’s story ends. If you’re like me it might just put a tear in your eye.

It also may inspire you to look deeper at the moments you see this holiday season as lumps of coal – the presents we didn’t ask for, the pain we don’t think we deserve, the Monday Mornings we don’t want to deal with.

When hope seems lost at Christmas, remember the message of Joel The Lump Of Coal: God saves some of his most precious gifts for us when we deserve them least.