I have a longstanding tradition of shopping on Christmas Eve. It’s the one day a year where I can honestly say I like to shop. I’ve probably been doing it for thirty years now. I’m sure it started because I’m a natural procrastinator. It’s turned into something I look forward to every year, though. What…
Charles Brown is a fascinating figure in American music. He’s great, first of all. Absolutely great. He’s legendary in the blues and traditional R&B worlds, but most people now probably don’t know him by name. He was a singer, pianist, and songwriter. The easiest way to describe Brown’s sound is he is where Ray Charles…
There’s one holiday tradition we need to end. Every year, we can’t go on social media in December without being inundated with memes complaining about Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” They suggest everything from it becoming an unwanted earworm to it triggering PTSD. I’m no Mariah Carey fan. That’s not why…
I work in a school. One of the students was telling me all about her family’s Elf on the Shelf. He’s apparently very silly. He hides in the dog’s bed, hangs from the light fixtures, and even hung out in the microwave one morning. That sounds dangerous to me, but who am I to tell…
One of the standard tropes in movies, songs, television shows, books, basically in all of media, is kissing under the mistletoe at Christmastime. If popular media is any guide, half the world got their first kiss under some mistletoe (while the other half got it playing Spin the Bottle). It’s so common that it makes…
2021 has been a weird year and, so far, December has been especially weird. People who know me or read this blog regularly know I love the holidays. But, even though it’s December 11th and I’ve been posting every day in December, I’ve barely mentioned Christmas. It’s come up in three posts, but only incidentally….
It’s a bit weird that this even needs saying but Die Hard is not a Christmas movie. Every December, I hear people talking, “What’s your favorite Christmas movie?” and at least one person always answers, “Die Hard.” It’s time we put a stop to that. First, I should say that I see where the Die-Hard-Is-A-Christmas-Movie…
Longtime readers of Nutmegger Daily may be surprised to find out we have a theme song. Even more surprising is it was made by John Legend and Stephen Colbert. It’s flattering. We didn’t know they were fans. We’re quite happy about it, though. Some cynics may object. Sure, the song is called Nutmeg and we’re…
My daughter asked me, “What’s your favorite part about Christmas?” I told her that my favorite part is watching her open her presents. She said, “Why do you like watching someone else have fun if you’re not having fun yourself?” I told her that it’s hard to explain, but that it’s part of being a…
I hate wrapping presents. It takes a shocking amount of effort to get them to not look like they were done by a five year old in a hurry. I used to work retail at a place that offered complimentary gift wrapping. I dreaded customers requesting it. I passed it off to my coworkers whenever…
