What songs of season are at top of your list?

Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling.

-- Edna Ferber

Do you have a favorite Christmas song?

I began to wonder while driving home the other night and finding the 24-hour-Christmas-song channel on the car radio.

After about 15 minutes, I was beginning to think: "You know, there have been a lot of disappointing excuses for Christmas songs over the years," when suddenly they put on Nat "King" Cole singing The Christmas Song.

That was more like it.

But what else would make the list?

Bing Crosby singing White Christmas used to be a favorite, but it's really overworked. Karen Carpenter 's Merry Christmas Darling is always a sweet surprise.

I've got a CD with Louis Armstrong performing Zat You, Santa Claus? that always makes me laugh.

And then there are the more religious carols. What Child Is This? to old Greensleeves melody is haunting. Silent Night is prayerful.

And Joy to the World and Hark the Herald Angels Sing can awaken a nodding holiday congregation.

What are your favorites?

Send me an e-mail and let me know.

HOLIDAY LAWS:

Law of Gravity: Any tree ornament, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

Variation Law: If you change store checkout lines, the one you were in will always move faster than the one you are in now.

Law of Close Encounters: Over the holidays, the probability of meeting someone you know increases dramatically when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with.

Law of the Result: When you try to prove to someone that a string of tree lights won't work, they will.

BLOG ALERT: My Our Town history blog on augustachronicle.com retells the story of what happened in post-Civil War Columbia County when a religious sect moved in.

TODAY'S JOKE: Everett Fernandez shares this one.

It seems there were two good ol' boys from Alabama who loved to fish, and they wanted to do some ice fishing. They'd heard about it up in Canada, so they took off up there. The lake was frozen nicely.

They stopped just before they got to the lake at a little bait shop and got all their tackle. One of them said, "We're gonna need an ice pick."

So they got that, and they took off.

In about two hours, one of them was back at the shop and said, "We're gonna need another dozen ice picks."

Well, the fellow in the shop wanted to ask some questions, but he didn't. He sold him the picks, and the old boy left.

In about an hour, he was back. He said, "We're gonna need all the ice picks you've got."

The bait man couldn't stand it any longer. "By the way," he asked, "how are you fellows doing?"

"Not very well at all," he said. "We ain't even got the boat in the water yet."

Reach Bill Kirby at (706) 823-3344 or bill.kirby@augustachronicle.com.