Those of you who received my (or should I say, Shauna J.'s) holiday card discovered a little seasonal puzzle. Namely, to come up with the title of the popular Christmas song created by the fellow immortalized on the postage stamp on the envelope. The stamp depicts songwriter Irving Berlin (1888-1989).

Hint: The tune first became a hit in 1942 for Bing Crosby and is the best-selling Christmas song of all time.

The answer is, of course, "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer."

No, silly!

Please tell me you really guessed "White Christmas."

The son of Russian Jewish immigrants, Irving Berlin's phenomenal songwriting career spanned five decades, from "Alexander's Ragtime Band" to the score of Annie Get Your Gun. In addition to "White Christmas," he wrote such standards as "God Bless America," "Always," "Puttin' on the Ritz," and "Easter Parade". As Jerome Kern put it, "There is no place for Irving Berlin in American music--Irving Berlin is American music."

"White Christmas" made its debut in the 1942 film Holiday Inn, in which Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire play innkeepers with an unusual concept--their hotel is open only on holidays and features a musical revue themed around the holiday being celebrated. The tune became an immediate hit with the thousands of G.I.s stationed in the desert and the tropics who yearned for the snowy holiday season back home.

The song was so successful that it became a movie in its own right in 1954 with the release of White Christmas. This time around, Danny Kaye teams with Bing to play (what else?) a pair of innkeepers who decide to put on a show. Holiday Inn has more snap and charm than the remake (as usual), but the 1954 version does boast the classic drag number "Sisters." Is it my imagination, or does Danny Kaye seem to be enjoying himself a bit too much in that particular scene?

Well, the likelihood of a white Christmas here on the California coast is pretty remote. But still, as Shauna J. said in "her" card: "Whatever tradition you choose to celebrate this holiday season, make it a groovy one!"