READ
“Sneakier Uses for Everyday Things”
This fun book by Cy Tymony gives illustrated instructions for turning normal objects, like, say, a balloon and a rubber band, into useful items for your life, like, say, an emergency flotation device for kids. It’s clever, and it has a disclaimer.
CLICK
An American Christmas
The holiday is full of history, and this website takes it all very seriously with an entertaining decade-by-decade take on how Christmas went down in the States starting in the 1840s and continuing until today. Forget the fireplace. Gather the family around the PC. .
LISTEN
“A Swinging Christmas”
This year’s glut of Christmas albums is mostly a snooze, so we’re gonna go out on a limb and suggest a retro move: Ella Fitzgerald’s “A Swinging Christmas.” (Yes, over Frank, over Bing and over Nat.) The set turns 45 this year, and it’s still the freshest take on jingling bells out there. Make sure you get the more recent remastered rerelease.
