Do you have a list of your favorite holiday cookies that you just have to make come December? My kids and I always make a big batch of linzer cookies. Our kitchen table is literally covered with cookies by the time we’re done filling each round with raspberry jam, then topping it with a cut-out cookie, before sprinkling it with powdered sugar. At last count, my recipe made 40 cookies!

Our second home is in Northern California, and I'm not above boasting about the joys of living an hour from Wine Country. The nearness of paradise makes me want to wax poetic about Napa Valley and those delicious little grapes. But, after giving it my best shot, all I came up with was:

Move aside Flat Stanley; your traveling days are so three-weeks-ago. Where travelers once held photos of Flat Stanley in unusual places, photographers now shoot photos of a humble red chair. Long considered simply a place to rest one’s buttocks, the lowly wooden chair has been elevated to celebrity status, and one that has been welcomed at inns and B&B throughout New England.  It’s all part of a consciousness raising experiment among innkeepers and a way to show “armchair” travelers the beauty of inn travel.