We spent much of last summer “Down Under” in Australia and New Zealand. Of course, in New Zealand, “down under” is up, since, when you're in New Zealand, you're up and we, on the wrong side of the world, are down. I said I spent Summer there -- July and August -- but there, July and August are the dead of winter, not summer. There, people in the cold South, speak of the conservatism of their tropical “deep north."

It's all very upside down.

Down there, in New Zealand, or up there, or wherever, thumbing through their church's new hymnal, I discovered a Christmas carol, “Upside Down Christmas." In New Zealand, Christmas is the middle of their summer.  Christmas is the day everyone goes to the beach. You can't sing, “In the Bleak Midwinter” lying on a bright beach in Auckland. Listen to the car…