Christmas Links #24

How 5 New Yorkers Are Coping with Holidays Alone:
"On March 12, I took my last subway ride home from work. I was listening to John Cale’s “Dying on the Vine” while standing in the middle of a cramped car. I could feel tension in the air — a mix of fear and uncertainty. As New Yorkers retreated indoors, many struggled with a new kind of loneliness."

A Christmas gift: Stories of the quest for connection:
"It’s been a year of defying basic human needs. The need to be with each other. The need to touch and to hold. The need to explore and discover."

Frying-pan pizza and frozen grapes: Guardian readers’ best kitchen tips from lockdown:
"With most people spending more time at home this year, it has been a chance to come up with some ingenious culinary hacks."

Why is Japan obsessed with KFC on Christmas?
"Like other Western customs, celebrating Christmas has become popular in Japan. But forget about the roasted turkey — fast-food chicken is an essential part of any Japanese Christmas celebration."

Alan Bennett's Diary 2020: A Round of Applause:
"1 January 2020, Yorkshire. A bright cold day and not one to be hanging about on our local station’s single platform, even with its vast view over the fells and the occasional heron."

Olympians and Paralympians told to brush teeth for Christmas:
"The messaging in Christmas cards sent to British Olympians and Paralympians may be a bit odd this year, but it is for a good reason."

‘She Was Freezing and Mad’: The Story Behind This Famous Slim Aarons Christmas Photo:
"Each year, come this season, a certain Slim Aarons photo makes the rounds on Instagram. It features a bathing beauty floating in a pool, bobbing alongside metallic holiday ornaments. Behind her, three children play with the floating, shining orbs."

The Borrowed Customs and Traditions of Christmas Celebrations:
"While Christmas is ostensibly a Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus, many of the rituals and customs come from other traditions, both spiritual and secular."

Eyes Wide Shut is an anti-consumerist holiday classic:
"Stanley Kubrick’s final film contains a thinly-veiled critique of the vulgar excess and materialism of Christmas." [via]

Veggie Christmas, 1985:
"BBC News reports on the growing number of vegetarians and vegans in the UK, who will be tucking in to the likes of cashew nut and mushroom roast and puréed chestnuts en croute for Christmas dinner."

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