My digital cable has a series of digital music channels (which I probably do not use enough, considering the paucity of radio stations in this area that play music I like). They have a special "Christmas music" channel (which is, sadly, mostly recent pop stuff, and most of it is way overproduced with too many gooey strings and general 'sweetening').

But something strikes me - or maybe I'm alone in this -

"Baby, It's Cold Outside" is one WAY creepy song. At least viewed from a modern perspective. (Lyrics here if you're unfamiliar; the main lyrics are sung by a woman, the parentheses by the man who is trying to get her to "stay.")

I mean: "Say, what's in this drink?" Brrr. Maybe I'm just too affected by modern attitudes but I don't like the song much. Even though I like most of the "crooner era" stuff.

As I said: a lot of the stuff on this "Holidays and Happenings" channel is really not "Destined to become a classic!" as is so often claimed about new Christmas specials that really aren't.

It's funny how picky I am about Christmas music. I tend to - at least from the pop end of the spectrum - prefer the Bing Crosby/Judy Garland era stuff. (Johnny Mathis is okay but he's getting kind of towards the end of the era I like). I guess it's because that's the kind of records my parents had when I was growing up. (Gene Autry, too. His rendition of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" is the one I remember from childhood).

I have a CD I love that's called something like "A Sentimental Christmas," which is mainly 1940s era stuff. (There's even a commentary from Orson Welles at the end, which kind of sets the tone...about how maybe this year Christmas isn't quite as merry as we'd like it to be [I presume, because of family members in the service and because of shortages and rationing] but that in the future, perhaps we can look forward to a string of "white Christmases, unspoiled by the red blood of war" or some such thing).

Of course, I also regard "A Christmas Story" to be about as High Canon as secular Christmas material can get, too. I don't know why things from that era appeal to me - I was born nearly 30 years after the time it was set - but they do. They somehow form my picture of what a family Christmas "should" be (well, without the Bumpus Dogs and the leg-lamp, but you know what I mean).

Of course, I also live in a 1940s-era house (which is nice despite the windows that leak heat and the occasional mouse) and tend to be most drawn to decorative tchotckes from that era. I'm not sure if it's influence of my maternal grandmother (whose home decor was largely unchanged from the 40s-50s) or if it's some other odd undefinable thing. I know I've written about it before but it's because it seems odd to me that I should be drawn to stuff from 30 years before I was born...

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And Devorah, thanks. I do think it's some kind of IBS thing. Hopefully there's some way to control it a little - not that the cat seems to really be in pain, and she has more good than bad days, but it does seem unpleasant for her. (At one point the vet mentioned some kind of malt-flavored kitty laxative and did say that usually it's not too hard to get cats to take it because of the flavor. Perhaps that would help her.)