When we enter the grown-up world, there are quite a few aspects of life that lose a great bit of childlike mystique: visits to the dentist, overalls, Hostess products and, perhaps most glaringly, the holiday season.
That which demarcates a picture-perfect holiday season for adults is really stressful. So stressful, in fact, that far too often the time morphs us into human beings that are the polar opposite of everything the season is intended to represent: hostile, grubby shoppers at will to honk a car horn in a swollen mall parking lot, neurotic bakers buttering three kinds of whole bird bodies and parents watching their savings accounts dwindle in a flurry to please children whose expectations seem to expound each year.
And that’s a shame. We at CityBeat care about your happiness, even if we don’t know exactly what that means to each of you. Step back and decide what makes your holidays the happiest — it’s (probably) not waking up at 4 a.m. on Black Friday, nor will it likely have anything to do with activities under mistletoe or figgy pudding, whatever that is. Everyone knows what the holiday season is supposed to be about — love and family and fireplaces and generosity and chunky socks and calories. Keep those tenets in sight when you’re planning and you really can’t go wrong.
In this Holiday Issue, you’ll see an acknowledgement of what makes for a string of “traditional” holiday celebrations with a sprinkle of CityBeat spice: classic (and quirky) theatre selections, the makings of an artisan dining experience, ways to make holiday giving extra-meaningful to you and a list of not-so-traditional holiday films we’re pretty sure you won’t find anywhere near ABC. Take a deep breath — it’ll be over before you know it.
— Hannah McCartney, Project Editor
