I'm just writing my annual War On Christmas competition announcement and found this important historical document: From the editor's column of the pre-purge National Review, December 27, 1995, the announcement of NR's War On Christmas Competition (now discontinued!) by John O'Sullivan, who was editor until William F. Buckley fired him. Those were the days!

• Last year, we cited some examples of the anti-Christmas Kulturkampf in the nation's public schools. There was the Brooklyn school where the children were required to sing a traditional Christmas song thus: "All I want for the holidays is my two front teeth."

Then, Father Sirico of the Acton Institute told us of a school where children, while allowed to dress as little devils for Halloween, were sent home for attempting to wear angel outfits.

Finally, in the Scarsdale public schools, there was an entire "holiday blackout," affecting both Christmas and Hannukah (but not the New Class holiday of Kwanzaa). The ban included not just Santa Claus and Christmas trees, but also "Jingle Bells," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," and even . . . candy canes. (They represent the staff of Christ, apparently.)

Doubtless, the bureaucrats will be fending off similar threats to the U.S. Constitution this year. So a prize—the usual bottle of bubbly—will be given for the most ludicrous example of resistance to the Christmas spirit. Cheers. —JOHN O'SULLIVAN