I feel like Rudolph to Rich Lowry’s Santa this Christmas. Of all the other reindeer in the NR herd — Dasher Ponnuru, Dancer Goldberg, Prancer Davis Hanson, etc. — Rich chose me to quote in his Yuletide column, which is all about “White Christmas.”
If you’re interested, the podcast with me and Irving Berlin’s daughter (and his piano) to which Rich refers can be found here. And I see my old friends at The Spectator in London have dusted off an ancient essay of mine on “White Christmas” from a bazillion years ago.
I agree with Rich’s point about the declining quality of Christmas songs. Most recent ones seem to boil down to: Christmas is like a really great day to be with the one you love, just like all the other days you’re with her, only even more so — which doesn’t seem quite sufficient to keep the genre in business. And don’t get me started on that “Christmas in The Sand” thing.
With that out the way, Merry Christmas to all.