I've said it before...

...just about 12 months ago, in fact.

I was in the early stages of a miserable Christmas "holiday." Funny, it's just about the same this year. Maybe a little worse, in fact, despite the best efforts of a couple of people.

But some things don't change, and my choice for favorite Christmas song of 2007 is also my favorite from 2006, 2005, and so on.

It was composed by the brilliant Tom Lehrer, who was also responsible for such enduring hits as "I Got it From Agnes," "The Old Dope Peddler" and "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park."

It's not so much the tune -- which, like so many Lehrer melodies, is well-crafted but not, on its own, memorable -- but the lyrics which deliver a message as timely as it was when written back in the 1950s.

Which is why I post them, once again, here.



Christmas time is here, by golly,
Disapproval would be folly.
Deck the halls with hunks of holly,
Fill the cup and don't say when.

Kill the turkeys, ducks and chickens,
Mix the punch, drag out the Dickens.
Even though the prospect sickens,
Brother, here we go again.

On Christmas Day you can't get sore,
Your fellow man you must adore.
There's time to rob him all the more
The other three hundred and sixty-four.

Relations, sparing no expense'll
Send some useless old utensil,
Or a matching pen and pencil.
("Just the thing I need, how nice!")

It doesn't matter how sincere it is,
Nor how heart felt the spirit,
Sentiment will not endear it,
What's important is the price.

Hark, the Herald Tribune sings,
Advertising wondrous things.
God rest ye merry merchants,
May ye make the Yuletide pay.
Angels we have heard on high,
Tell us to go out and buy!

So, let the raucous sleigh bells jingle,
Hail our dear old friend Kris Kringle,
Driving his reindeer across the sky.
Don't stand underneath when they fly by!