Interactive holiday links:

Secret Santa: You'll be paired up with another participant, and exchange gifts based on your amazon.com wishlists. Sign up before December 10th.

2001 Holiday Gift Swap: Describe the perfect present (reasonably priced, but at least $10) and get paired with someone else to complete an exchange. Deadline is also December 10th.

I was walking down the hall of my floor to the elevator the other day, leaving the apartment for work, when I caught a whiff of what was unmistakeably mulberry, wafting from somewhere. And wow. Immediate flashback to a Christmas spent around mulberry candles years and years (about seven of them) ago. Amazing how a scent can transport you back so immediately and clearly to an associated scene. So what do you associate with the holidays? For me it's mulberry and pine needles and the traditional Christmas Eve Catalán soup and stew, a chill in the air, and synth-carols bleeping from the ornamental bells or strings of lights of the year. Lovely.