In this season of giving, I started thinking about what have been my favorite gifts over the years. I for one, feel great stress in deciding on just the right gift to give so when it is perfect, I really get the significance. For me, and this may sound crazy, one of the best gifts my husband ever gave me was a Kitchen Aid mixer. I love to bake and the mixer I owned was old and not very good. The gift was a great surprise and I use it to this day.

Being Jewish, I do not celebrate Christmas. But, my family  generally spends Christmas every year in the same traditional way. If we’re not on vacation, you can find us at a movie theatre and, thereafter, at home eating Chinese food. I love family traditions. I firmly believe that they give our children a stronger sense of family and a sense of stability. If you celebrate Christmas, tell me your most cherished tradition. If you don’t celebrate Christmas do you have a traditional way to spend the day?Merry Christmas Gotham!

As usual I've waited till today to do my Christmas shopping. I had a great excuse this year....the world was supposed to end yesterday according to the Mayan calendar.

So, as is my compulsive pattern, I arrived early for a holiday party last week and was one of the very first on the scene. The problem with that was  no one I knew was there. Thus, there was no one to commune with (and hide behind). I know this is a business development, socializing, connecting "no no", but problem is, I'm shy. Painfully shy in new situations. In friendly, home field, familiar crowds I can float around and riff and connect with my guys and gals, but not as the new solo guy in a strange room.

My son came home from school.  It was Monday night...a week night...a school night.  Normally we would have just chilled out watched TV and went to bed.  I had an urge though (need?).  When I asked my son if we wanted to go to the movies, he got excited quickly.  I tried desperately to get my wife to go with us, but she was tired.  She insisted we still go without her.

With an 11th grader in the house, we spend a lot of time talking about college, undergraduate programs and various career paths.  Putting aside for purposes of this blog my daughter's thoughts for her future, this process started me thinking about the college majors that we all chose (more years ago than at least I will admit) and whether in the end, they bear any resemblance to our professions.

I have seen the term “birth order” mentioned a lot lately on the internet. Many psychologists say that birth order influences one’s personality. Other scientists state that there is no convincing evidence that links personality or behavior to birth order.

The news struck me like a shot to the gut. I felt sick to my stomach when I heard what happened in Sand Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. It is so senseless. Facebook and Twitter have been burning bandwidth with an outpouring of grief, sadness and anger. I've seen demands for stronger gun control and people defending the second amendment.   No matter what you think of guns, one cannot turn away from the fact that a 24 year old took the lives of 26 individuals, 20 of them children and one of them his Mom. It is a tragedy beyond comprehension.