Christmas Hullabaloo

At this time of the year in the States one is treated to a plethora of Christmas songs.  Most stores and shopping malls have Christmas carols as background music and every night there is some type of Christmas special on the TV.  Radio stations play the classics like Silent Night and White Christmas, but they also repetitively play "gimmick" songs that seem to crop up each Christmas - dogs barking a classic like Jingle Bells or a black humor song about grandma getting run over by Santa's reindeer.

I don't miss all of the Christmas hullabaloo here in the south of France.  The season here is positively subdued in comparison to the States.  Oh, for sure there are decorations gamely put out by the town officials to mark the season, but very few citizens put up decorations of their own.  And there is definitely less commercialism of Christmas here.  What I do like a lot is that the towns put children's attractions in every town square - small carnival rides, ice skating rinks and snow slides.   While the children yell and squeal on the tobaggons gliding over fake snow, the adults drink hot wine and eat roasted chestnuts.

Arlette asked me if I would pick a Christmas song for the blog and I chose one that is quintessentially American.

Merry Christmas everybody!