The holiday shopping season is upon us, Black Friday has come and gone, and it’s open season as shoppers grab up holiday bargains!

And why not? It’s been a pretty tough year all around, but everyone needs to cut loose a bit here at the end of the year. And Christmas, Chanukkah and New Year are the perfect holidays to embrace your family and tell them how much you love them.

This time of year we begin to see the holiday movies and hear more and more holiday music on television, radio and in the stores.

For me personally, the Christmas season doesn’t officially begin each year until I see “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” and “A Christmas Story.”  The movie version of the Grinch has been shown on HBO and other movie channels over the summer and into the fall, but I prefer the old animated version that premiered in 1966.

I saw the animated version of the Grinch, complete with narration by the immortal Boris Karloff, that first Christmas season, and I’ve seen it every year since. My kids grew up with the Grinch, and I hope that my first grandchild (he’s due to premiere in January) will grow up with it also.

And when you see the Grinch on TV (ABC aired it Monday night, but it should be on again before Christmas), pay special attention to the song, “You’re a foul one, Mr. Grinch.” The voice may sound familiar to you, maybe like Tony the Tiger? That’s because the voice is that of the late Thurl Ravenscroft, who also provided the voice of breakfast cereal lovers’ favorite tiger for many years. Funny thing, he is not listed in the credits for the Grinch, but that’s him, nonetheless.

As Christmas movies are concerned, I suppose I would have to rank “A Christmas Story” at the top of my list of all-time favorites. The Halifax Little Theatre did an admirable job of putting on the play last year at the Chastain Theatre in The Prizery. If you weren’t fortunate enough to catch one of the performances last year, you missed a good’un.

If you haven’t seen the movie or the play and you’re over the age of 25, you’ll probably love it. And if you’re my age, you’ll more than likely be able to identify with it. I see so many things that remind me of Christmas when I was a kid.

Everyone who grew up in the 50’s had friends like Ralphie Parker, Flick and Schwartz. And we all knew neighborhood bullies like Scut Farkus and Grover Dill. The big brick schoolhouse and the wooden desks with the fold-down seats in the movie were just like the ones in which I spent countless hours during my years at John L. Berkley Elementary School in Danville. Alas, the venerable old John L. Berkley Elementary building isn’t there anymore, having been demolished years ago.  What a shame!

And just like Ralphie’s mother, my mom didn’t want me to have a B-B gun either. “You’ll shoot your eye out!” 

Well, Ralphie gets his at age 9, but I had to wait until I was 14, so what does that tell you! Anyway, if you haven’t seen the movie, it should be on TV a number of times over the holiday season. 

I mentioned that Christmas music is taking up more of the radio airwaves these days. Now I have a slight problem with some of the so-called Christmas music. 

We hear songs like “Jingle Bells,” “Sleigh Ride,” “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow,” “Walking In A Winter Wonderland,” “Frosty the Snowman” and others this time of year, but they’re gone after December 25! 

These songs are not Christmas songs…they’re WINTER songs!  Where in those songs do you hear anything about Christmas? You don’t! These are songs that could be played in January or February, and not just during the time leading up to Christmas Day.

But anyway, I enjoy the “Sounds of the Season” every year. They seem to make me happy and improve my disposition. (My wife says, “Hallelujah!”) Even when I worked in radio, I enjoyed Christmas music, and I never got tired of it, even playing it hour after hour after hour.  

Christmas music is special to me. It takes me back to my childhood, you know, back to pioneer days. At least, that’s what my kids think!

And how about the great old artists singing and playing those familiar Christmas tunes. Most of them aren’t with us anymore.

To many, Bing Crosby IS the voice of Christmas, along with the great Nat King Cole, Perry Como, Dean Martin, Burl Ives, Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, the ol’ cowboy himself…Gene Autry, and how about the chairman of the board, old blue eyes…Frank Sinatra.

Wow, it doesn’t get any better than that! Of course, I like the newer artists too, like Michael Buble’ and Celine Dion, but I really prefer the old ones.   

So this season when you hear those old familiar Christmas songs and carols being played, enjoy and let them take you back to Christmases past. 

“Long past? 

“No, your past!”