ILLUSTRATION BY MATT DETURCK
I've been having a hard time getting into the holiday spirit this year. The weather has certainly played a big part. This prolonged Indian summer we've been enjoying has given us comfortable temperatures and a total lack of accumulated snow prior to Thanksgiving. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. It's just weird. I can hardly believe that December starts this week.
But the holidays are here, and we all better get into the swing of them but quick. Because even with all of the downsides - the crass commercialism, the crowded stores, the relatives whose necks you want to squeeze so tightly that their heads pop right off (but I digress) - there really is something amazing about this time of year. The music is cheerier, there's an excitement in the air, and people have a tendency to be a little bit nicer to one another (minus that whole relative-strangling thing).
Working on this year's Holiday Guide helped me to get excited for the next few weeks, and I hope it does the same for you. I am totally snatching Deb Schleede's "holiday auction" idea from her piece on gift-giving alternatives to Secret Santa. I can't count the number of concerts I hope to attend that Paloma Capanna included in her holiday music preview. And hopefully I can squeeze in one or two events from the holiday calendar before January 1 rolls around. I cannot believe I have never seen that gingerbread-house exhibit at the George Eastman House, or been to the lighting of the Liberty Pole. I'm making time for both this year. How are you going to make sure to make the most of your holidays?
--BY ERIC REZSNYAK
Guides
Video games have become much more mainstream over the past few years. In fact, according to the Entertainment Software Association, by 2010 more than 67 percent of American households owned at least one video-game console. Video games can make...
Guides
To make sure that the gifts you give your kids this year won't be outgrown, forgotten, or broken by the time the holiday season rolls around again, consider presenting them with a family membership offered by a local museum or organization....
Guides
Gift-giving between family, friends, coworkers, and other peers is a large part of the holiday season. At many celebrations, most offices, groups, organizations and families on a budget do a variation of the traditional "get a gift for...
Guides
Tear your holiday shopping list in half, right down the middle. Keep the left-hand list of names of loved ones, ditch the right-hand list of whatever you were thinking about buying. I've got your holiday-shopping solution, and it is a perfect...
Guides
Ongoing [Exhibit] Annual Holiday Poinsettia Show at Lamberton Conservatory. 180 Reservoir Ave. Daily 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (Saturdays until 9 p.m.); closed Christmas Day. $2-$3 (children 5 and under free). 753-7270. Monroecounty.gov/parks....
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