Extracted from Village Christmas: And Other Notes on the English Year, by Laurie Lee, published by Penguin Classics on 5 November.
Residents in the area expressed similar sentiments, noting that Christmas trees had been erected in parks in Cagayan de Oro, a popular tourist town, and that residents had begun going to church nightly in preparation for the holidays.
An 1895 article on Christmas-food traditions noted that Americans eat more lightly than the English throughout the season.
Mr. May, who bought the Visor two Christmases ago, takes notes with it during the pastor's sermon and records coming events from the church bulletin.
(Chinen) * DIANNE REEVES AND FREDDY COLE (Tonight) Ms. Reeves, a powerfully gifted singer whose "Good Night, and Good Luck" soundtrack is up for a Grammy Award, revisits another good genre effort, "Christmas Time is Here" (Blue Note); she shares billing with the winsome crooner Freddy Cole.
The next time you catch yourself saying wistfully "Oh, wouldn't that just be great if our Christmas was like that," take note.
* oh, christmas tree, oh, Christmas tree!
Not that I was up for Affleck-related optimism in the era of Bennifer, Gigli and Surviving Christmas (which, let it be noted, was gone before Halloween).
Melanie was up first with a typically Mariah-esque rendition of "All I Want For Christmas Is You," which was note-perfect, as always.
