Highly recommended Christmas traditions:
Chocolate, of course--particularly Glenfiddich chocolate
Maker's Mark
Listening to Dylan Thomas reading his own "A Child's Christmas in Wales"
James Galway
Beethoven piano music
books as gifts
champagne brunch
German shepherds
And the best Christmas movie? Die Hard, of course.
UPDATE: New Christmas drink, too, which I failed to mention: the Doctor's Mark. On ice, two parts Diet Dr. Pepper to one part Maker's Mark bourbon. Mmmm...
My latest article for The Atlasphere is now up.
Change of pace from opining on Thanksgiving and its intimate tie to the love of beer: this time around, I sing the praises of James Cochrane's lovely new book, Between You and I: A Little Book of Bad English. It's not published in America yet, but you can get it from amazon.co.uk, as I did.
It really is a little book (126 pages), but it covers, surely and lightly, many of the more commonly-suffered mistakes made in English. Okay, so this is a spoiler. Sue me. But go read the review anyway.
Teaser from what many will regard as the money graf: "Ultimately, no doubt, we shall communicate with a series of grunts — and the evolutionary wheel will have turned full circle."
No beer in this review. Not one mention. But even if you don't like my review, you'll enjoy (and profit from!) the book. Trust me. I bought it, read it, and loved it. Go thou and do likewise.