Grinch moment

Christmas is approaching fast, like a big, tinsel-wrapped cannonball. (I don't know where that comparison came from. Just go with it.) That also means I've got a verdict on which holiday song is finally starting to get on my nerves. There's always one song that seems to follow you around, that gets played in every grocery or department store you step into, that is constantly on no matter which radio station you turn to, and it changes from year to year. One December at my high school part-time job, I could have sworn I listened to every cover of "Sleigh Ride Together With You" ever produced. Another year, our family drove what seemed like all three hours to Grandma and Grandpa's house listening to "No Place Like Home For The Holidays." Last year, thanks to the creepy CGI Alvin and the Chipmunks movie, there was no escape from "The Christmas Song." (Somebody just get those darn rodents a hula hoop already.)

This year's winner for Most Overplayed Holiday Song? John Lennon's "Happy Christmas (War Is Over)." It won't stop playing, no matter where I go. It's really sad, because I like John Lennon, and it would be wonderful to have peace on earth, but I can't handle minute after minute of the children's chorus chanting "war . . . is . . .over."