Oy, Humbug

It's that time of the year. As I've mentioned (many) times before, Christmas is my favorite time of year. Truthfully, I'm a summer person and I hate winter -- the cold, the snow and all that. But, as I've said before, I do love Christmas. I love the music, the decorations, the tree and the spirit of the season.

I'm just adding my Holiday Playlist to my iPhone (all 357 songs) and if it ever stops raining, I plan to buy the tree and start decorating the house this week-end, with all the trimmings. And, like my extensive collection of Christmas music, I have a correspondingly voluminous collection of decorations.

In contrast, there is one member of the LLWL Gang* who is especially bothered by the emphasis (or, over-emphasis, as she sees it) on the Christmas part of the holiday season. A Jewish version of Bill O'Reilly, if you will. For example, our office Scrooge has been resisting participating in the "Secret Santa" gift exchange because of the nomenclature used to describe the Pollyanna.

On this particular issue, I am a sore disappointment to her. Of all people in the office, she expected me to support her in her disdain for all that is Holly & Jolly about the Holidays. One of the other Jewish members of the LLWL Gang is no help either, since she actually decorates a small tree in her office with ornaments and is a fan of the wreath that we hang on our door. See No No Noel.

Like her, the holidays know no bounds for me. My Santa collection includes a black Santa or two and I have a Kwanzaa decoration as well. In fact, this year my mother-in-law has added yet another piece to my holiday collection. A package was waiting for me when I arrived home from work yesterday & to my surprise she had sent me -- a Menorah (with candles). She thought it was only fair that I cover all aspects of the holidays. True that.



In line with this way of thinking, I think I have found the perfect answer to our office Bah, Humbug & her Christmas quandary.

In a piece discussing the objections raised by a Jewish mother to inclusion of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer at her child's school holiday show because it has the word Christmas in it, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic observed, in Rudolph the Jewish-American Reindeer:

Of course, the song 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' was written by a Jewish-American songwriter, Johnny Marks. He also wrote 'I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.' Also written by Jews: 'I'll be Home for Christmas,' 'It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,' 'The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire),' and of course, the mother of all Jewish-written Christmas songs, 'White Christmas,' by Irving Berlin. Why, you could almost say there's a conspiracy by Jews to dominate the Christmas-jingle-writing industry!

I think I'll be playing of few of these songs at the office tomorrow, as I pick out her Secret Santa for her. And if she dares to complain, it's an Oy, Humbug to her!


(LLWL = Lady Lawyers Who Lunch a/k/a my officemates)

(Via The Daily Dish)