“It’s the sound of the days, falling down like rain on Christmas” was how I misheard the first line of a Stephin Merritt song, and it sounded like the dreariest thing in the world to me. But Juliana told me that as a child she always wanted rain on Christmas, and a brief survey of my California-born co-workers has led me to the conclusion that in California there are sunny Christmas people and rainy Christmas people. The pro-sunny arguments are: you can go outside, you can play with your new toys, if you are an adult you can get away from your family and some people just always like sunny days better. The pro-rainy arguments are: rain is more like snow, you can build a fire and watch movies, you can wear your new winter clothes outside and rain is just more Chrismas-y. It appears that this year the rainy Christmas people will have their way.