Word: holidaying
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Americans entered into this pattern of yuletide dissimilitude largely through the effort of a Prussian-born engraver named Louis Prang. Often dubbed the "father of the American Christmas card," Prang started manufacturing cards for the American market in 1875. The practice of exchanging greeting cards with holiday newsletters during Christmas time quickly became popular, as it remains so to this day. While as early as the 1840s some Americans were already sending out cards, the custom grew greatly with Prang’s efforts...
Today, as during the Victorian period, the Christmas card itself is purchased at the store, but the newsletter is no longer handwritten. In modern America the holiday newsletter is printed on the family’s DeskJet and usually has a festive border around it. But don’t be fooled by this ornament, the letter’s content is a veritable popcorn chain of falsehoods, all strung together with conventional and informal prose...
Although I am not eager to learn the dark secrets of my friends and family, I’d still like a bit more truthfulness in holiday newsletters. Lying may seem like a good option in some circumstances, but it destroys any usefulness that the newsletter might have for other people. Unable to determine what is true, we are left with a summary of fanciful wishes how the year should have gone. But since the lying will likely never end, perhaps we could simply stop sending holiday newsletters. My mantle space would certainly be a lot freer, and I could...
Nothing says classic holiday season romance like a trip to Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, playing until Dec. 30 at Boston’s recently renovated Opera House. After sipping eggnog on the Green Line to Northeastern, sit back and relax as Mother Ginger, Marzipan, and the Sugar Plum Fairies hypnotize you into a psychedelic stupor of lust. Beware, though, as the ballet has a tendency to bring out the worst in the closeted pretentious: should your date say anything about the Boston Ballet’s failure to live up to his/her Lincoln Center expectations, run away...
Embrace two old lady tendencies in one go: your love of homemade popsicle-stick Christmas ornaments and cats. Animal Umbrella is sponsoring a Cat Adoption and Crafts Sale for those in need of festive holiday decorations and a warm body to hold. No one should be alone during the holiday season and (apparently) cats shouldn’t either. It’s one-stop shopping like you’ve never imagined...