1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they’re serving rum balls. 2. Drink as much eggnog as you can, quickly. It’s rare. You cannot find it any other time of year except now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It’s not as if you’re going to turn...

In 1614 a British expedition landed in the area known today as Plymouth MA.  When they left they took 24 Indians as slaves and left smallpox, syphilis and gonorrhea behind.  That plague swept the so-called “tribes of New England”, and destroyed some of the villages totally. Mid winter of 1620 the Americas saw the landing of the Pilgrims.  The new 1620 settlers were not farmers so their crops failed miserably.  Were it not...