" If you are one of those people who puts up a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving and leaves it up until after the Super Bowl, I urge you to stop reading this essay right now. Go pour yourself a nice glass of eggnog, cue up “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and check back with me after New Year.

 "The rest of us, those who dread the arrival of the eight weeks of Christmas, are often marginalized at this time of year and derided as raisin-souled party poopers. To avoid such criticism, we tend to keep our feelings to ourselves, restraining the impulse to bark “Bah! Humbug!” at dewy-eyed Santaphiles or burst into a rousing ...."