I stood in a circle of cross-legged children, clutching the delicate menorah out in front of me, afraid of dropping it. My mother had carefully wrapped it in tissue paper to keep it safe on the ride to school. “Be… Continue Reading
The toy factory was bustling. Christmas was but a few days away and there were countless orders to ship out. Ryan Stanopolous strolled through the sea of smiling faces. The holiday spirit was clearly alive and well in his workforce.… Continue Reading
When someone popped a champagne cork at the Christmas party, Carl dived under the table. No one said a word. The dairy lot laughed nervously, the butchers raised their eyebrows and carried on with their conversations, and the dot.com drivers… Continue Reading
My mother would start unpacking the Christmas decorations on what we now call Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving when shoppers stampede stores.) The smell of leftover turkey still permeated our house as she filled the air with a regular… Continue Reading
Snow drips from the tattered scarf wrapped around his face as he stands silently eager, almost not breathing. I unlock the door and push, and it becomes real: I’m bringing the homeless man from the corner into my apartment. I’ve… Continue Reading
The dilemma — I knew even as a nine-year-old boy to be a “good problem” — was I’d unwrapped a blue plastic horse from Mrs. Golding during the fourth-grade classroom Christmas party and all the girls wanted horses, as girls… Continue Reading