Blue Christmas

The freakishly balmy days are finally giving way to more seasonable temperatures, and I'm finally burying the flip-flops and resurrecting the earmuffs. Must be the holidays! My favorite time of year; a season I observe by ritualistically watching Irving Berlin's White Christmas and reading about world-historical tragedies!

Last year, I was mildly disturbing my companions on weekend ski trips to Bakuriani by snuggling up to the hearth apres ski with hot cocoa and Gulag, followed up with Harvest of Sorrow. This year, I think I shall alarm my family by cocooning myself in down comforters with The Siege of Leningrad.

I have not seriously considered the impulse driving me to mix holiday cheer with the depths of human wretchedness. Surely there are some interesting psychological impulses at work here, but I am satisfied to chalk it up to my being a twisted little freak and leaving it at that. Ho, ho, ho!