When I was younger and busier, as Christmas became more and more commercial, as retail crushed harder upon us and Christmas became the most important measure of the economy, as downtown begat malls begat catalogues begat the internet, begat the cassette-CD-MP3-blaring soft-core soul whine of so-called music, it became easy to be increasingly annoyed by the hype and nonsense that confused Christmas.
What is Chanukah all about? Chanukah, my children, Chanukah is the festival of socks. Each year the great Bubbe comes to the foot of each child’s bed and takes a sniff. “Och, gotenyu. What a smell. I can tell you need new socks, you little stinker.” And so, all over the world, at Chanukah, children [...]
Well coming into the Holiday buying season I always remember the appliance years–first apartments and all– and my tribute to the last appliance-gift I received. It’s a beauty–and it’s season is coming so I thought I’d revisit it.