Holiday Archive

2017 Head Butler Holiday Gift Guide: Stocking Stuffers - HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDES The Holiday Gift Guide The Food Edition Gifts for Kids The Luxury Edition --- Small gifts. Budget-friendly. In two categories: Under $15 and Under $10. You're welcome. UNDER $15 The Queen’s Gambit My favorite book. But

A Farmhouse in France: a retreat to rent, a movie to watch - If you’ll recall 2004, a bogus war was raging. And George W. Bush and his crew, having built the war on a lie, were sustaining that war with a steady

December 31, 2020: Dinner is now at 6 PM. 9:30 is the new midnight. Your social life (online) starts at 10 PM. Better must come - Dinner is now at 6 PM. 9:30 is the new midnight. Your social life (online) starts at 10 PM. Is this you? It’s certainly me. With some additional changes that may

Emily Dickinson Notecards - My daughter mentioned a Christmas list. I admired her early start --- and thought to follow her lead. So here’s the first gift of Christmas: Emily Dickinson note cards. A dozen 5-1/2"

Father’s Day 2018 - I’ve already received the best Father’s Day present I’ll get this year. It came in the form of a text. “Please cancel my ortho appointment for tomorrow,” my daughter wrote.

Father’s Day 2019 - On the morning of Father's Day, my daughter will be on a plane heading west. Hard to believe, but The Child is now the Young Adult, and it's time

Father’s Day 2020 - I don’t want a single thing. Not in a country that had one child in six going hungry last year and has one in four kids inadequately fed this year.

Father’s Day 2021: A few good things - Last year I said I didn't want a single thing. Not in a country that has one child in six going hungry and has one in four kids inadequately fed.

Father’s Day 2022: The older he gets, the more it matters - My daughter is 20 now. Hard to believe --- and probably hard to believe for longtime readers, who remember her as “the small person” and “the child.” What is not

Father’s Day 2023: Cheap and Cheerful - SUPPORTING BUTLER: You can become a patron of this site, and automatically donate any amount you please — starting with $1 — each month. The service that enables this is

Head Butler 2017 Gift Guide: The luxury edition - HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDES The Holiday Gift Guide The Food Edition Gifts for Kids The Luxury Edition ---- Luxury isn’t about spending. It’s about value. In 1997, when I bought my first Timex watch, it cost about

Head Butler 2018 Holiday Guide - I never order entrees in restaurants any more --- there's just too much food on the plate. Instead, I order two appetizers. The variety is appealing, as is the size.

Head Butler Holidays: 2019 - I'm not feeling holiday cheer. And that goes for everyone I know. We live under a darkening sky, ruled by men who take pleasure in cruelty. In our hearts, we

Head Butler takes a holiday, but he’s left you many treats — don’t stay home without them! - SHOPPING ON AMAZON: You start here, buy something there, Butler gets a commission. And not just on the item reviewed. Anything you buy during a session that starts with

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 2020: Gifts for Kids - No child I know needs to spend another minute looking at a screen. Every child I know would welcome more than a minute with an adult who cares. My friend Randie

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 2020: Life Preservers - THIS HOLIDAY IN BUTLER The 2020 Holiday Gift Guide: Life Preservers The 2020 Holiday Gift Guide: Gifts for Kids The 2020 Holiday Gift Guide: Books and Movies ---- Cynthia McFadden delivered a lovely message

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 2023:Books and Music - SPOKEN WORD Ruth Draper and Her Company of Characters: Selected Monologues Ruth Draper invented Lily Tomlin. Like this: In a grand 1920’s home, a New York society matron’s Italian lesson is just

Holiday Music 2018 - The Tallis Scholars concert was transporting. Ten voices, polished by decades together, singing Palestrina at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin --- it was like a drug. And then

Holiday Vacation Butler, 2002 - SUPPORTING BUTLER: You can become a patron of this site, and automatically donate any amount you please — starting with $1 — each month. The service that enables this is

Holiday Vacation Butler: Movies, Videos, Books and Stories To Divert You While I Go Quiet Until January - SUPPORTING BUTLER: Since the start of 2023, Amazon seems to have gone on a quiet campaign to rid itself of small sites that, collectively, generate revenue worth noticing --- and