I keep the radio tuned to an Internet station from Florida that plays nothing but classical music, which solves that aspect of the Santa-overload problem.

As for the rest, I "curate" (as they say these days) my holiday experience by staying out of shopping malls as much as possible. It's easier this year than previously, as we are in the midst of a complete kitchen renovation that has the house in total uproar, and we recently moved to a small town where the only major national retailers are Canadian Tire and Home Hardware. Not much frenzy in Stratford, thank God.

I'm singing in a Messiah performance next week, and the choir is having a "Christmas social" that I will probably avoid. The farmers' market put on a German-style Christmas market last Sunday, and similar episodes of Yuletide exploitation will probably break out each weekend for the rest of the year. The neighbours have put up their coloured lights, and fake fir and red ribbons appeared on Ontario Street (the main drag) on the Monday after Remembrance Day.

It all reminds me of the pre-Yule period in Germany 40 years ago. Tolerable -- at present. Ask me again in the third week of December.