The Gifts of an Unexpected Year

I stood in the checkout line at Kmart and pouted like a six-year-old.  I was mad at my wife--an unnatural phenomenon as rare as Haley's Comet, Susan Lucci Emmys, and painless root canals.  I was mad at her because she wouldn't let me buy a DVD boxed set of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, Frosty the Snowman, and Frosty Returns.  (I warned you I was being petulant, didn't I?)

I am a man who surrenders easily to nostalgia and these Rankin-Bass animate...