Editor’s Note

When I was growing up, our Christmas activities weren’t formal enough to be called traditions. With my parents working full time, my brothers’ endof-term exams and club hockey games, not to mention the frenzy of holiday shopping and decorating, Christmas was more like organized chaos.

We had a few holiday habits—decorating the tree as we all sang along to Frank Sinatra’s A Jolly Christmas LP is one I cherish—but we didn’t approach the season with a set schedule. That spontaneity carried its own magic. But the delightful Christmases readers describe in “Home for the Holidays,” beginning on page 30, show the fun in the planned magic of seasonal traditions.

Today, my own family has one holiday tradition, dreamed up by my husband, Mark: Every Christmas Eve, we read Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol aloud. With our son, Evan, joining in, we all play to the cheap seats, shouting out lines like the worst kind of Broadway hacks. It’s terrible. And fantastic.

After 25-odd years of these annual readings, I’ve become something of a Scrooge aficionado. It’s surprising how often filmmakers have returned to Dickens’ reformed villain, too. We highlight a few of the more memorable incarnations in our quiz, “A Dickens of a Scrooge Fest,” beginning on page 46.

And we have a new regular feature beginning this month. Keepsakes on page 48 highlights special items that are touchstones to the past and our best memories. Our first one, by Sandra Waggett Miller, is a lovely story about a set of Christmas cookie cutters that remind her of a loving friendship.

Enjoy, and happy holidays!