What irks me about the holidays

[Jeff Wrangler]

OK. I'm gonna really stick my neck out here and 'fess up that what really irks me about the holidays is the song White Christmas.

I know the whole world thinks it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it annoys the heck out of me; the way people swoon and go all gooey over it also annoys the heck out of me.

I think this is because I grew up in a place where a "white Christmas" was a rarity rather than the norm. And even when there was snow on the ground at Christmas, it usually wasn't enough even to bother about. Only once--once!--in my growing up or later was there a snowy Christmas worth dreaming about. It certainly doesn't qualify as the "ones" (note the plural) "I used to know."

I much prefer The Christmas Song, aka Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.

[Jeff Wrangler]

IT's called a seed potato...it's this part that makes the new plants!

Beg pardon?    I don't understand what that has to do with a fragment of potato that hasn't been cooked thoroughly? 

[CellarDweller]

You're right about the song, Jeff.  I can barely remember any white Christmases that we've had, and it's not like you go out and do anything with the snow,   you're busy opening gifts and visiting with each ohther.

[Jeff Wrangler]

You're right about the song, Jeff.  I can barely remember any white Christmases that we've had, and it's not like you go out and do anything with the snow,   you're busy opening gifts and visiting with each ohther.

Thanks for not "clipping" me, Chuck. 

If I knew where to look, it might be interesting to know exactly how many "white Christmases" my home town has had since weather records began to be kept.

I will admit to remembering one "white Christmas" when I was a child, when there was so much fresh snow we walked to church on Christmas Eve in the traffic ruts in the street because nobody had yet shoveled their sidewalks--but that's the only Christmas that might fit the song, and I don't dream about a Christmas like that one. I was a little boy then, and you can't go back.

If I have any dream about Christmas now, it's being able to be in several places at once, so that I could share Christmas with "family of choice" as well as "family of birth."

[serious crayons]

I dislike the song for exactly the opposite reason. Christmases here are almost always white, and I don't like winter. This year may be different. At the moment, there are only tiny scraps of snow on the ground, thanks to a series of days in the mid-30s to low-40s. There's a snowflake icon on my phone's weather app for tomorrow, but since the temperature forecast is 34, that snow probably won't stick more than an hour. Which is fine with me!

Next week: single-digit highs.

[Front-Ranger]

What irks me about the holidays is the cheesy Christmas songs that you catch a bar of here and there as you go into stores and then can't get out of your head for days after! It seems like the bad songs stick worse than the good ones! Those sung by Andy Williams or, worse yet, Perry Como. I would mention the names but then I'd bring down the earworm curse on you!

[southendmd]

What irks me about the holidays is the cheesy Christmas songs that you catch a bar of here and there as you go into stores and then can't get out of your head for days after! It seems like the bad songs stick worse than the good ones! Those sung by Andy Williams or, worse yet, Perry Como. I would mention the names but then I'd bring down the earworm curse on you!

No kidding, Lee!  For some reason, I can't get this one out of my head.  Ughhhhh.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lPw9hkk3II[/youtube]

[brianr]

You should live in a country where it is midsummer yet they still sing "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas"

[Penthesilea]

I really like White Christmas, even though the weather is pretty much the same as Jeff and Chuckie said. We barely ever have a white Christmas - that's why we're dreaming of it!
And I guess here the song is not as overplayed as in the US.

[CellarDweller]

according to what I heard on the radio yesterday, the biggest complaints about the holidays are longer lines in stores, and more traffic.