For Hanukkah (evening of Dec. 8—evening Dec. 16) make some truffle oil latkes and rhubarb crème brulee sufganiyot. Pick up Kenny Ellis’s smooth Hanukkah Swings CD.

Observe Saturnalia (beginning Dec. 16th) using Macrobius’s Saturnalia (Loeb Classical Library) as a guide and engaging in “cultured conversation, sharing meals with good fellowship all around… ” Spend the better part of the day discussing serious topics and hold festive conversations at dinner time, so that no time of day is left empty of learned or beguiling contributions.

Refresh the Christmas Music library with Christmas by Michael Buble; The Ventures Christmas Album; A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector; Ella Fitzgerald’s Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas; Dean Martin’s A Winter Romance; Elvis’s Christmas Album; Bob Dylan’s Christmas in the Heart; and Christmas with the Rat Pack.

Use pantyhose for Christmas stocking to get extra stuff from Santa.

Get the Yule Log HD fireplace video from Youtube and play it on the biggest flat screen in the house.

You can grow your own mistletoe, a semi-parasitic plant, especially if you have an apple tree, but you should be careful to keep it under control. Here’s a good article.

Glenn O’Brien considers the endless holidays of the season.