MERRY <i> KITSCH</i> MAS

I was disappointed to read Marc Shulgold’s review of “The Sights and Sounds of Christmas” (Home Tech, Dec. 8). Having received the cassette as a gift and spending some time with it, I find Shulgold’s criticism not only misguided, but downright mean-spirited.

There exists a very fine line between what should be honored as traditional and what he describes as “every kitschy holiday cliche--trees, kids, Santas, toys . . . accompanied by Muzak.” (Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” is Muzak?!)

What Shulgold has forgotten is that those are the very images that produce the ceremonial fabric of the season. Time honored. Quaint. Charming. To equate those images with Sartre’s concept of hell begs a far more interesting question:

What will be the “sights and sounds of Christmas” at the Shulgold house, devoid, one must assume, of all that kitsch like smiling kids, music and twinkling lights? But then, who better to write descriptions of hell.

DONALD DAVENPORT

Channel Islands Harbor