Little could he have imagined that one day, because of mass media, elevator music and a (heavenly?) host of hand-held devises, we would too soon have the sacred holiday at our ears, as well.
And here's the trouble:
Christmas songs are an ever-multiplying and never-dying phenomenon.
Only Christmas songs could resurrect Gene Autry, Perry Como and Bing Crosby and, likewise, bring Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme and Judy Garland back from the grave every year.
I'm old enough to remember when Rudolph was first barred from reindeer games, when Frosty first set up shop and when Santa Claus first steered his team of eight down Santa Claus Lane. And that's leaving out The Little Drummer Boy, Silver Bells, A Jolly Holly Christmas, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, All I Want for Christmas is You, Oh, By Gosh, By Golly, Jingle Bell Rock. And all the rest.
ALL THE REST!
Douglas MacArthur bid farewell to Congress, the nation and public life with the adage and song title, "Old Soldiers Never Die; They Just Fade Away."
But while it is true that old Christmas songs never die, it is equally true that they refuse to fade away. Traditional or modern, Come All Ye Faithful and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen are still mandatory and so are Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas and The Christmas Song (Chestnuts roasting and kids dressed up like Eskimos, etc.)
The bad Christmas songs don't drive out the good. But, then, neither do the good Christmas songs drive out the bad. Nor do the old drive out the new or the new drive out the old. Nothing drives any of them out. And why? Because Christmastime (old-fashioned word) keeps expanding. Many people complain that Christmas begins immediately following Halloween. Perhaps not yet. Probably soon. However, there can be no question that Thanksgiving and its bete noire Black Friday are now fully accepted as the beginning -- even though it's still November.
Even the kids behind the counters at Starbucks are dressed like elves that black day and the very cardboard cups in which they serve their multitudinous brews are decked like halls.
The War on Christmas? Like most things of Fox News -- Bah! Humbug! It's Christmas' War on My Ears that's got me dreading all those tidings of comfort and joy the last fiscal quarter -- I mean, the most wonderful time -- of the year.
