The Grinch Who Stole the Christmas Shoes

I've been listening to the 24-hour Christmas music radio station since Thanksgiving to get into the holiday spirit. I like most of the songs that they play, but one of them is already grinding on my nerves. You are probably expecting me to say it's "Gradma Got Run Over by a Reindeer," or something like that. Yes, that one is annoying too.

The song that bothers me most right now is "Christmas Shoes." I know, it's probably really horrible to complain about a sweet song depicting a boy trying to do something nice for his mother before she dies. But, really, could it get any sappier? The moral of the story is that some wealthy, busy man runs into this boy buying shoes for his mother and thereby learns the "true meaning of Christmas." How pathetic are you that you need such a desparate situation to remind you of the true meaning of Christmas? The run-of-the mill tragedies of the world (poverty, AIDS, senseless violence) don't suffice to get the message across?!?

I realize that I sound like a Grinch complaining about this feel-good song, but I felt better about my opinion when I read the review of the book that the song is based on by Publisher's Weekly that called the story "a gooey holiday parable." I'm just not a fan of goo.