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I have some really pretty, timeless ornaments on my Christmas tree: like the silver bells for each year that my husband and I have been married, the laser-cut wooden ornament my husband and I bought on our trip to Munich a few years ago, and the tiny silver cup my mother gave me that says "Baby's First Christmas."

But the ornaments that are always dearest to my heart are the little oddballs, like these guys:

This is, naturally, a little crocheted pieróg with eyes and a tiny smile. Could anything be cuter? I love it because I'm Polish, I love pierogi and my family eats them every year at Christmas dinner. Plus, last year I received it in the mail before I knew who sent it to me (my dear friend Paula) so opening it was a delightful mystery.

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After all the Christmas posts this week, I know you expected me to interview a snowperson (why always a man? Or a woman? Snow gender need not be so definitive!) but instead today I’m chatting with someone who will (I hope) not melt away. Cheerful spirits are a key part of the holiday season, so today I’m interviewing the author of the upcoming memoir Drinking With Men, a love letter to the bars, pubs, and taverns. She is also contributor to This American Life and npr.org, and writes the monthly "Drink" column for The New York Times Magazine. You can learn a lot more about her here.

Drinking and writing: do they go together?

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Christmas is the most romantic holiday.

Forget Valentine’s Day, with its overpriced pre-fixe meals and tacky Walgreens stuffed animals and general made-up-ness. Christmas is the most romantic holiday, as it encourages dim, flattering lighting, cozying up by the fire and having a nice cocktail. To me the part that always stood out in “A Christmas Story” wasn’t “You’ll poke your eye out” but Ralphie’s parents enjoying a quiet moment together after all the present-opening was through. So, if you don’t have someone, or your someone is far away, or you know people who fall into one of the first two categories, Christmas can be lonely.

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Tis the season to see disheveled-looking people in office attire stumbling down the sidewalk at 8 p.m. on a weeknight. That’s right. It’s work holiday party time, where, for some reason, grown adults get more wrecked than at any other type of function. Weddings, New Years Eve, bachelor parties: none of these hold a candle when it comes to the holiday party and people obliterating themselves.

I remember my first office holiday party. I was working at a tiny ad agency and didn’t expect much in terms of a celebration. I probably even joked to some friends that maybe I’d get to see people dancing around with lamp shades on their heads and wearing their ties in unusual places.

The evening began quite classily, actually, with cocktails at the Union League Club. But cut to a few hours later when the party was winding down: my boss was handing me full, unopened bottles of wine he had stolen from behind the bar for me to hide in my large purse and one of the younger women on staff was snuggling up to a man who was definitely old enough to be her great-uncle.

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The best part of Christmas are those hilarious “scared of Santa” photos posted on the Chicago Tribune’s website. Truth be told, it wouldn’t feel like Christmas without a couple dozen photos of terrified children sobbing on strange men’s laps. So avoid feeling like a failure this year and turning out a regular boring old photo of your sweet child smiling on a friendly fat guy’s knee, here are some tips on how to elicit a surefire winner:

• Try to find a hungover Santa if you can. His dour expression and the bags under his eyes will contribute to a hilarious image.
   
• Better yet: skinny Santa. What could be worse?

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Dear Citibank:

Thank you for the piggy bank, glasses cleaner and huge piece of chocolate with your logo stamped on it:

We are glad you appreciate our business. However, next time, we would just take an extra five bucks in our account.

Thanks and happy holidays,

The Zulkey-Delahoyde household

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If you have no plans Wednesday night and want to learn all about the magical world of blogging, I will be chatting with beloved local bloggers Dmitry Samarov and Ben Tanzer tonight on a panel at Columbia College. I'm psyched to hear what they say because I am teaching a course on blogging in January and think I need to pick up a few insights from the experts. Details are below:

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