COMMERCIAL CHRISTMAS PRO AND CON. "And what kind of Christmas, exactly, is profitable? Many Americans crave that quaint Norman Rockwell holiday. Thanks to commercialization, amid the Tonka trucks, plastic toys and battery-powered gadgets with an inordinate number of flashing little lights, we can still get model trains, old-fashioned toy soldiers and Red Ryder BB guns--the commercialized gifts of their day," according to Brendan Miniter.

"God rest ye merry merchants,
May ye make the Yuletide pay.
Angels we have heard on high,
Tell us to go out and buy!"
per Tom Lehrer.