Currently browsing: Holiday
From the dropping of the ball in Times Square through the marathon of A Christmas Story on TBS, we pay tribute to the greatest moments on the calendar. (All posts guaranteed not to shoot your eye out.)
Tracking Santa Claus on Christmas Eve
Legend has it that it all started with a typo. Sears printed a number that kids could call to keep up with Santa, and it went to NORAD...
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“You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”
It’s a high point of one of the high points of the Christmas season (you know, “the holidays”). There are lots of good...
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“It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
Some Christmas songs are “owned” by one particular performer. Bing Crosby owns “White Christmas,” for example. No...
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Christmas Cookies
The lines are drawn, the preference often a family tradition, passed down from mother to daughter. There’s no middle ground. Either...
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Frosty the Snowman, TV Special
In 1949, Gene Autry recorded a song called “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” Big hit. The next year he wanted another fun...
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Thanksgiving Day Football
In addition to the blessings for which we are grateful on Thanksgiving, here’s one more in 2011: Thank goodness the Detroit Lions are...
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Holiday: Candy Corn
The one absolutely distinctive seasonal candy for Halloween is candy corn. Not everyone likes it (though I do – come to think of it,...
Read MoreHoliday: July 4th Fireworks
They can be spectacular. In New York City, they exploded more than 22 tons of pyrotechnics a couple of years ago. Or they can be modest, a...
Read MoreSong: “God Bless America”
Hard to believe, but “God Bless America” languished unsung and unknown for its first twenty years. The great Irving Berlin...
Read MoreAlbum: "A Charlie Brown Christmas" Soundtrack
Even today, it doesn’t seem like a natural fit for a jazz soundtrack to accompany an animated Christmas show. Certainly the...
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