JAMES LILEKS ON CHRISTMASTIME, THEN AND NOW:

Anyway! That was but one aspect of the Holiday Season, which has been compacted and generally lovely. I did some shopping — everything was mad, daft, jammed, compacted, but generally merry. At Patina, a boutique store that caters to the well-educated wine-mom demographic, there was so much of this:

I mean, this is a really nice store full of delightful merchandise you won’t find in big-box places. Everything’s eclectic. But hand-in-hand with this upscale vibe is the most tiresome, off-putting, anti-social meanness of spirit and language. The target market thinks they’re clever and special and, you know, spirited! They don’t suffer fools! I also suspect they regard themselves highly for holding the Proper Opinions on Things.

Oh you swore. You must really be interesting.

The look on their faces if you said these things to their five-year-olds – you know, the kids they brought to the store — would be priceless.

Read on for a look at Christmas seasons of the past, where they did things a bit more elegantly.