December 22, 2025: Christmas in the sand -

I don’t get out much, in terms of pop culture, or really, any culture other than my own little bubble. So I heard a new (to me) Christmas song last week when I was shopping. The lyrics that snagged my attention went:

      Could’ve been the sun, 

      Could’ve been the sea,

      Could’ve been my childhood fantasy,

      But I saw Santa in his bathing suit ….

My very first reaction was, “I’m asleep, and this is not a real song.” 

The next two reactions were “When did this song come out??“ and then “That image was definitely never a fantasy of mine, but okay….” (You may think I'm oozing depravity by assuming this childhood fantasy was unwholesome, but have you heard this song? "You look naughty, but I'm sure you're nice." There's a a bit about being left breathless. It's not just me, I swear.)

Anyway, I looked it up. “Christmas in the Sand” came out in 2012, sung by one Colbie Caillat. (You probably know this already. I will never catch up.)

The next day, I sang the fantasy-of-swimsuit-Santa lyrics to Rick, who suggested gently, “Maybe keep that to yourself?” 

But I, as usual, had questions: How did the singer know it was Santa, given the bathing suit? Was he wearing his hat?

Rick said there was fur trim on the suit. I said, Is that stuff rabbit? And he said, "No, ermine," which is the sort of conversation we often have. 

It reminded me of the time I took our 5-year-old daughter to see Santa at Nordstrom, and Santa was a Black man. 

We had a sociable and curious kid. I had only recently persuaded her to stop asking  all big-bellied women when their baby was coming. So I simultaneously thought, "Good for Nordstrom," and also, "I hope she doesn't ask Santa anything that hurts his feelings."  And she didn’t! She performed the traditional drill flawlessly.

We wandered out into the mall, but she was completely lost in thought, so I waited. After a while she made an announcement. “So,” she said, “There’s more than one of them, right?”  

Yep. Explains a lot.