Seeking the Sublime in the Everyday

Celebrating in the Village  Tonight is Christmas Eve Eve and the sixth night of Hannukah!   Are you ready?  Have you done all your shopping and wrapping? I LOVE wrapping presents. This is our coffee table, all ready for our big day.  I've added an innovation--gift tags!  I used to say, oh, I don't need to label this--I'll remember who this is for and then on Christmas I'd have to open it just a bit to check.  The tags are very helpful. Don't be too impressed--it's not all it appears.  Here's the real story. Yes, I wrap up practical gifts like  socks b ut really, what's wrong with a little ceremony and celebration, like clinking glasses and saying Cheers before dinner, even if it's just leftovers on Tuesday?  And I must say, I give really  great  socks*.       There's nothing like the perfect present;  like this. My brother, Alan and his bride, Donna, bought it for me on their honeymoon. It was a mobile with about...

So I walked into the Post Office to buy some pretty stamps.  I picked out these beauties: If you can't read this it says LOVE.  The woman behind the counter said, "I think we're out of those," and turned to her colleague.  "Are we out of LOVE?" and the other woman replied, "Oh, Honey, I'm never out of Love."  Let's raise a glass to the United States Postal Service. I've been worrying that I haven't bought enough Christmas presents for my family; it's hard to find something Arthur really wants, Molly doesn't like to get clothes for gifts because, she says,  "I have my own style." Jessie doesn't like "stuff."  I love wrapping presents, I love finding the perfect gift, but that doesn't always happen at Christmas and buying something just to do it feels futile and a little like over-eating.   This week's New Yorker has a cartoon with two kids looking at the pile of presents under the tree.  One sa...