1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Holiday spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

Susan notes: at Christmas, when I was a young girl, my mother used to read me this story from a beautiful picture book.

I remember how it made me feel at once terribly sad and tearfully joyful.

I could imagine the poor little girl cold and alone, seeking comfort from a few matches, the only possesions she had...

I took a walk in the park at the edge of a Canadian city just before Christmas.

In the middle of the suburban wilderness, I came across a lone deciduous tree, a stone's throw away from a nearby thicket.

Someone (Santa's elves perhaps?), had decorated it with Yuletide exuberance and a motley collection of bits and bobs.