This year’s Holiday Issue took a step back in an attempt to enjoy the experiences that so often pass us by during this time of year. Should we have set up an elaborate photo shoot for our Holiday Issue covers? That sounded stressful and obligatory, so we just built a little house out of cookies and candy. It was only one story, but it was delicious. And we enjoyed each other’s company and had lots of candy left over. ...

With the official kickoff to the holiday season just days away, some are preparing to don their riot gear and hit the malls, while others plan to remain in their comfy pajamas and point and click their way through their shopping list. Either way, local merchants are encouraging Cincinnati residents to “shop local” by visiting Cincinnati venues either in person or virtually this holiday season. ...

I have long, skinny fingers except when I go Christmas shopping. Once I’m in a store listening to Christmas music and hearing all that holiday cheer, my fingers swell up. This has been happening since the 1980’s. My fingers are no longer fingers. They’re long, fat sausages that are tired of picking up stuff and trying to decide what to buy somebody. ...

The first of two December offerings (War Horse being the other) from The Most Successful Director That Has Ever Lived is a motion-capture-rendered animated adventure that follows a young journalist (Bell) immersed in a treasure hunt. The trailer looks like Indiana Jones minus the geriatric nonsense of that series’ last entry, which is obviously a good thing. ...

Sure, it might sound boring and vaguely pathetic for one's favorite holiday memories to revolve around TV — how very “American” of me — but holidays just wouldn’t be the same without football on Thanksgiving, the Christmas Eve A Christmas Story marathon and all the classic stop-motion specials.  ...

A DJ’s most important duty is to gauge the crowd and keep them happy by choosing the just-right song to play at that just-right moment. I was told by the DJ company that a truly great DJ doesn’t just spin records — if he or she is good enough, they can act almost like a Pied Piper. And, he assured me, the DJ I’d been assigned is one of their best — DJ Scrooge McRock. ...

“If you don’t know meat, know your butcher” is advice I read on a butcher shop window a long time ago. It came back to me recently when I read an article in The New York Times titled “The Lost Art of Buying From a Butcher.” The bottom line: An experienced butcher will gladly tell you more than a package ever will. ...

Many Cincinnatians are  unemployed, looking for jobs that won’t return any time soon. Some are struggling to pay bills and put food on the table for their family, while others are living on the streets without a home to call their own. If you find yourself asking, “What can I do, after all. I am only one person?,” there are many convenient opportunities in the Greater Cincinnati area to help those in need during the holiday season.
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Enjoy the holiday events, attractions, music, theater and arts offerings Cincinnati has to offer.
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