Credit Renate Valencia

The pop of the Champagne cork is as much a part of the New Year’s Eve soundtrack as "Auld Lang Syne" and fireworks. The tiny, tickling bubbles evoke celebratory moods. With so many s...

Credit Elsie Trask Wheeler

There's no doubt that Christmas is magic. I see it in the eyes of children and the faces of loved ones, and bask in its reflected glow. But over the decades, that sense of holiday w...

Credit Ivy Jacobson

"Opening presents is like playing air hockey with God," is what Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal once wrote in trying to capture the joy of children opening gifts on Christmas morning. T...

Credit Adam Roberts http://o2.aolcdn.com/dims-shared/dims3/PATCH/resize/273x203/http://hss-prod.hss.aol.com/hss/storage/patch/c1ae15ceb76b2a76ae4ed9d08b07edc6

When Bob Schmidt's wife, Jeanne, asked him to do something spectacular with their Christmas lights this year, he took to request to heart. He spent half the year buying and hanging lights...

Credit Adam Roberts

Christmas is obsevered each year on December 25. Here's a handy list of what's open and closed for the holiday:  Retail stores: Closed.  Supermarkets, liquor stores: Closed.  &#...