DECADES ago, when I was in the elementary grades, it was standard fare for classroom and school Christmas programs to act out the drama of the first Christmas night. Radio stations hardly played anything other than Christmas carols, and television shows — mostly black and white — were Christmas stories. We hardly hear the Christmas story told now.

In fact, some children know bits and pieces of it but really do not know it. Radio and television programs blare out the same noisy, annoying fare heard throughout the year. It really is like we have tired of the Christmas story — but we should not. We cannot afford to!