When I was younger, I thought the beginning of a new calendar year was a stupid thing to celebrate. It might have made sense if the new year actually coincided with some astronomical event like the winter solstice. The first day of spring, the true season of rebirth, would have been even better. Instead the […]

In Southern California, we never had White Christmases. Maybe up in the mountains we’d see a bit of snow, but down in the basin, it was typically not even all that cold. And that always sort of bother me. I remember how excited I got one Christmas when it rained. I had received a pair […]

In my day, Christmas never had anything to do with gingerbread. Gingerbread was the stuff of fairy tales and children’s poems. It was the raw material that witch’s houses were made of. It was the sugary drywall and roofing shingles that lured woebegone children away from their parents and into the stomach’s of crones. Ho, […]

As we head deeper into the holiday season, (This weekend is the annual caroling party.) I thought it was a good time to trot out some more Christmas-y foods to keep my eyes on the prize as things start to get a bit crazier. And they will get crazier. After several years of freelancing, this […]

Since I’ve been married, the Christmas season has started right after Thanksgiving. Immediately after, in fact. Our holiday party is on the first Saturday in December, which means we shift into holiday overdrive the morning after turkey day. We get the tree (still a fresh tree, for good or ill) and get out all the […]