That mean one, Mr. Grinch, came early and stayed late this year. He arrived before Christmas, then lingered like a bad smell days afterward.

The killjoy of seasonal cheer has various guises, but his most common cover for interfering in everyone’s harmless pleasures is concern over climate change or animal welfare. He doesn’t deny that he’s green, he just pretends his ugly tinge has nothing to do with envy of people having a good time and is all about altruism toward his fellow creatures, including, but certainly not especially, his fellow men.

Two days before Christmas, the Washington Post scolded families for gathering around a log fire. It tut-tutted at those of us who regard a blaze of wood in the grate as a necessary ingredient of good cheer when the outer cold and darkness are crowding in on late December afternoons.

“Many fireplace lovers assume burning wood for warmth is climate-friendly,” the Post intoned, unaware........

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