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When it comes to the holidays, everyone always talks about the music, the “cheer,” the family, the gifts, the food, etcetera, etcetera. For me, the holidays aren’t complete without the following three things:

1. Snow
2. Cold weather
3. Fire

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Every year when December rolls around, I dig out the music and movies that I traditionally associate with this time of year. The Chieftains’ “The Bells of Dublin” album has long been my family’s Christmas go-to album, and I know that “A Christmas Story” is going to appear on TV, which always makes me want to buy that lamp. But, as I get older (wow, I hate typing that) I’m starting to form some new favorites to go with the holidays. And, I just came across a brilliant mashup of “Roxanne” by The Police (1978) and one of the most classic of Christmas movies, the stop-motion animation “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1964):MORE…

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I should preface this blog post by admitting that I am fully aware that this post outs me as a complete nerd. Now that we’ve established my nerdiness, I’ll get on with the story.

Last week, I was fortunate to escape cold, wintry Boston for a relaxing girls’ getaway week on a tropical island with my mom and sister. Psyched to decompress and not think about reality for a week, I packed an arsenal of magazines and books to digest between mid-morning and mid-afternoon naps.MORE…