Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons The 1843 novella A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is, for me, the most accurate depiction of how it feels as an adult to pulse through the psychedelic, often boozy, veins of the Christmas season. The depictions of the lights, decorations, and music create a woozy environment for memory and fear. The festive drinks, hyper-vivid finger foods, and once familiar though now strange friends and relatives pickle everything—even the cookies. I remember as...

Photo Source: Flickr When I was nine, I began piano lessons. While I had, for the most part, mixed feelings about playing the piano when my music teacher handed me a sheet music book of Christmas carols for beginners, I became obsessed with practicing. I am quite sure that was a trying holiday season for my family. Out of that experience, I developed a very favorite Christmas carol, and that was "O Come, All Ye Faithful." I must have played (and mind you, I sang as I played)...

Photo Source: Flickr Pictured Above: Cast of Sabrina (1954) — Humphery Bogart, Audrey Hepburn, and William Holden It is safe to say that one would have to travel pretty far and wide to find someone who does not have a visceral understanding of Hollywood . Hollywood is far beyond a location. It is an encapsulation of the famous phrase: "The stuff that dreams are made of." Humphrey Bogart said the phrase as Sam Spade in the 1941 film noir classic The Maltese Falcon . Bogart's...