"How Jewish songwriters created Christmas"

"Oy, Christmas. It just wouldn’t be the same without Jewish songwriters."

So begins an interesting article by the Globe and Mail 's music reporter, Robert Everett-Green. Click here to read it.

Reminds Walt of the story about an Israeli tour group who were being shown around the Vatican. They gazed in awe at the architectural and artistic masterpieces of St. Peter's -- all the marble, all the gold leaf. And, it being Christmas, they paused at a Nativity scene and listened to the explanation of the guide.

Said one little old man, "So this all happened in Israel?"
Replied the guide, "Yes, in Bethlehem. The very place where Jesus was born is in your country."

"And the baby's mother was Jewish?" asked the man.
"Yes, she was," said the guide.

"And the baby was Jewish? Circumcised and everything?"
Another affirmative.

Then the old man turned to his wife. "What I can't understand," he said, "is how we ever let the Italians get hold of this!"