47:
Christmas and Commerce
Originally aired 12.20.1996
Stories about the intersection of Christmas and retail, including David Sedaris's story "Santaland Diaries," which was first broadcast on NPR's Morning Edition several years ago in a much shorter version.
Act One. Toys R Us
Host Ira Glass visits a Toys R Us on Christmas Eve at closing time.Act Two. Santaland Diaries.
The diaries are about David's two Christmas seasons working as an elf in Macy's department store on New York's Herald Square. When it was first broadcast, it generated more requests for tapes than any story in Morning Edition's history except the death of Red Barber.Act Three. Christmas Freud.
David Rakoff on playing Freud in the windows of Barney's department store.Song: "Christmas Freud Caroling", The Formerly Known As Family
Act Four.
John Connors's family tape from the 1960s.
