What causes Rudolph’s nose to be red?
Rudy’s proboscis is bright red because flying around near the subzero North Pole does that to any nose, human or animal. But when Johnny Marks wrote the Rudolph song, he apparently thought that the particular reindeer (or as some “experts” claim, a caribou) would be the star because his name, Rudolph, went well with “the red-nosed reindeer.” He was right of course. “Harvey the Red-Nosed Reindeer” didn’t do well at all in consumer surveys in several test market towns. One was Everglades City, I think. What’s the origin of the tradition of Christmas caroling around town after dark? I think it was a fluke. Carolers were leftover trick-or-treaters from Halloween. They tried their candy quest again at Christmas but homeowners had had enough with all that door-to-door begging. So the people broke into song, hoping to coax at least some cocoa and cookies from the neighbors. “Joy to the World” smoothes feathers a lot better than somebody in a witch costume threatening to soap one’s windows. Wh
