The holiday senses

We could introduce this package by telling you it’s all about enjoying the holidays via sight, sound, smell, touch and taste. But telling isn’t quite what we’re going for here. We’re trying to convey that ephemeral, hard-to-articulate feeling, like: chocolate-filled candy canes (mmm) and fresh spiced cider (aahh), or a Christmas playlist that doesn’t involve Mariah (phew), and a Santa who’s into adults sitting on his lap. Okay, that last one made you feel a little weird. But see, you felt something. It works!

• Sight(s)
• Sounds, part 1
• Sounds, part 2
• Smells
• Touch
• Taste, part 1
• Taste, part 2

Online bonus content:

	Merry or scary?: Holiday traditions tend to infuse people with different amounts of glee. How do these winter chestnuts make you feel?
	Holiday letter Mad Lib: Why should Sedaris get to have all the fun writing holiday update spoofs? Fill in this form and enjoy a zany story of your own.
	Worst holiday sweater contest: Show us the reindeer/snowflake/Frosty knitwear that would make Bill Cosby blush.

Also in this issue:

	Cheer and loathing: Everybody has a holiday-sweater–wearing Uncle Fred and a Christmas-hating Aunt Bertha. But these folks? They get really heated up about the holidays.
	New Year's easy: To hell with that $500 dinner-in-a-cattle-pen package. There are thriftier, more interesting ways to dance on the grave of 2007, whether your partying style is lo-fi, high-energy or somewhere in between.
	Fowl play: London’s legendary performance troupe Duckie drags its gritty, in-yer-face, mercenary cabaret to the Lower East Side and Greenpoint.