Merry Christmas from the Chronicle

I've always enjoyed the Eve more than the Day, for some reason. At heart I'm more a longing-for-something person than a getting-something person...which might explain why I'm a Thrashers fan (other than the accident of where I live). 

At any rate, your Chronicle editor is taking Christmas Day off, but I hear Big Shooter has a Christmas Day Extravaganza planned. Can't wait. 

If you're looking for new and interesting ways to celebrate this splendid holiday, here are a few suggestions:

Of course, you can start with a crackling fire and the Muppet Christmas Carol. Or even better, read the Dickens story out loud to your family. If you're tired of A Christmas Carol and still crave reading material, try the Christmas section of Dickens' first (and perhaps best) book, "The Pickwick Papers." 

Or John Milton's "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity." We all love this one, right? 

It was the winter wild,
While the heaven-born child
All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies;
Nature, in awe to him,
Had doffed her gaudy trim,
With her great Master so to sympathize:
It was no season then for her
To wanton with the Sun, her lusty Paramour.

If you like that, you ought to read on. 

If you dig poetry, read aloud or act out Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, written and performed for James I's Christmas feast. 

If it's a Christmas mystery you're craving, read the very best Sherlock Holmes story, "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle," the caper of which involves a Christmas goose. 

And finally, even if you're not the believing type, the opening scenes of this here silent film are among the most beautiful in all cinema:




Most importantly, I see that the Czar got his 500th career point for Christmas. If only we could give HIM something...I'd like to join Razor in asking Santa for a play-making power forward to play with Ilya.

Lastly, your editor's favorite Christmas song: