Merry Christmas!

Watch a movie every year and soon you will be able to predict each comment long before it's made. All of us marvel at Bing's mellifluous voice and Danny Kaye's smooth dancing. There will be a disparaging word or two about Rosemary Clooney, despite my reminders that she was George Clooney's aunt. And it's true, this film is probably not her finest.

Her sister, played by a dancer named Vera-Ellen, earns the most comments for her impossibly long legs and tiny waist. It's not easy to pig out on Christmas cookies while watching this movie.

Every year I get the giggles when the housekeeper, played by the great character actress Mary Wickes, just happens to be reading Variety while tending the phones. "What housekeeper reads Variety?" I shriek. "Mom, you say that every year!"

But we all do. That's the joy of watching this movie together. The ritual of repetition, of small family traditions that come around each year — part of the joy of Christmas.