There are times when it seems life has run out of steam.  The space between Christmas and New Year’s Eve is one of them. **********      It’s the week after Christmas, or ‘holiday’ if you’re part of the crowd of alchemists that mix Christmas with Visa and come up with a concoction called Santa. …

It’s Tuesday, a week before Christmas.  I’m standing in line at the post office, waiting. I’m not alone. Others stand silently in a long queue that snakes its way outside. They wait, too     It’s an understatement to say Americans enjoy waiting in line anywhere. Or, for that matter, waiting for anything. We’re used to instantaneous …

Out of the many moods of Christmas, which one will jump-start us into the spirit of the season? I might have found mine. **********      It’s difficult trying to gin up any enthusiasm remotely acceptable for a Christmas mood. It has to happen on its own. The frenetic crush of mosh-pits crowds on Black …