Those miserable folks (and I say that affectionately) over at teevee.org have come up with a Celebrity Holiday Playlist, wherein they list the Christmas songs they hate the most, along with a few that they actually like. I have to say, I agree with a lot on the list (although I have a soft spot for the Bowie/der Bingle duet), and one song in particular - The Christmas Shoes :

"When we were driving from Baltimore to Fredericksburg for the Christmas pilgrimage in '00, we were listening to WASH-FM, a local station that plays Christmas music non-stop from mid-November to midnight, December 25. After suffering through any one of the songs listed above, we heard this one: a treacly ditty about some smug yuppie who gets the real meaning of Christmas when the filthy little urchin in front of him requests help buying a pair of shoes for his momma so she'll meet the dress code in Heaven. 'I knew that God had sent that little boy to remind me what Christmas is all about,' the narrator warbles, apparently forgetting that a woman has been sent to an early grave just so he can be reminded to not be such a grump around the holidays. The Lord works in mysterious ways, we guess.

After hearing this song for the first time, we had to pull over to I-95's shoulder, lest our laughter cause us to drive into a tree. Later, when recounting this horrible song to our parents and/or in-laws, we noticed their faces grew ashen -- _they actually liked the song!_ And they weren't alone; apparently, when it comes to hating 'The Christmas Shoes' and all it stands for, we are squarely in the minority."

You are not alone guys. I HATE that song, for all of the reasons they state, and a few more. Down with The Christmas Shoes!