Let's Go Out Tonight

By Liz Forman

Welcome back, everyone! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and have recovered from a possible turkey-and-fixings overdose.

And welcome to holiday madness. As Robert Daniel, who taught here for years, used to proclaim every December, "The holidays have got us by the throat again."

We have so much to do between now and New Year's. There are gatherings to gather, parties to throw, trees to trim, families to visit, cards to send, cookies to bake, presents to buy (and then to wrap), concerts to attend, school pageants to videotape for distant relatives, games to play in and games to watch, hallways to garland, and lights to string on roofs or front porches, down driveways, and across lawns.

Are we ready? Where's the Hanukkah menorah? Where is everyone going to sleep if the cousins from Chicago decide to come? Are you prepared for the five-hour plane trip with the eighteen-month-old? Who's going to tell your folks that you plan to stay home this year?

And the hardest part: how to deal with our yearning for those no longer with us; how to celebrate the people we miss the most; how to help friends find joy when they are wishing for days long gone? We skate an emotional fine line at this time of year-happy with anticipation, exhausted, ready to pack it all in, and yet eager for more.

Oh yes, it has us by the throat all right. But it is a glorious anxiety, these holiday times.

Take a deep breath, relax, and remember: It really is the thought that counts; perfection is impossible, and we will always remember it as a perfect time even if things don't go as planned. I don't have the space here to retell the story of my sister and the great gingerbread-man massacre. Suffice it to say that the party was important, the stress was high, the dough was wrong, and in the end the floor around the Christmas tree was strewn with broken little gingerbread bodies and limbs-all that was left hanging from the garlanded branches were six dozen heads with icing grins. The moral of the story: fix what you can, keep on going, and try to take it easy.

In the spirit of taking it easy, here are some suggestions for holiday distraction and holiday gifts. First, three cheers for Middle Ground, Gambier's new coffeehouse. Their soup has become a staple in my office for folks working through their lunch hour, the panini sandwiches and wraps are delicious, and the carrot cake is one of the best I have ever had, and could be lunch all by itself. The decor is wonderful, too. It's a great addition to our community.

My holiday book recommendations would include The Best of the Kenyon Review-any reader on your list will love this anthology of stories, poems, and essays, and the edition is both beautiful and affordable. For the card player in your family, I recommend Bringing Down the House, by Ben Mezrich, a fascinating (and true) account of how six MIT students took the Vegas casinos for millions at the blackjack table.

If you have an Elmore Leonard fans on your list, and I think he's a terrific mystery writer, they will like his collection of short stories, When the Women Come Out to Dance. Or try Mystic River, either Dennis Lehane's novel or the movie. My mother loved reading Thieves in High Places, by the very funny Texan liberal Jim Hightower. My sister and I both enjoyed Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett, a strangely moving novel about an opera singer, her devoted fans, and a hostage situation. And for cookbook lovers, many of the new celebrity chefs on the Food Network have cookbooks out. The Barefoot Contessa books, by Ina Garten, and the Naked Chef books, by Jamie Oliver, come highly recommended.

Finally, I can't end without a few recommendations for movies and videos. While you are waiting for the final episode in the Lord of the Rings saga, try to catch a wonderful, small independent film called The Station Agent. The acting is excellent and the screenplay even better. For fun, both Elf and Looney Tunes are worth at least the matinee, and the newest Cate Blanchett film with Gene Hackman, Missing, looks to be a nail-biter and one not to miss. If you did not see Seabiscuit this past summer, you can rent the DVD or video for a popcorn night at home. It's a movie not to miss, and the same goes for Finding Nemo, one of the funniest films of the year.

I must bring this column to an end. As I have pointed out already, none of you has time to read all of this anyway. You have things to do, places to be. Good luck with all the end-of-the-semester work before us all.

And Happy New Year, everyone!