The freakishly warm November continues. Which is just making the arrival of Xmas cards seem even odder and out-of-joint. Even tho, of course, it's not. I've pretty much given up the illusion that I'm not completely out of step with how the American mass mind views the holidays. That is, that they start in late November and end at 12:01am on Dec. 26. It is what it is. At least it's now close enough to December that hearing Xmas music isn't inspiring in me thoughts of near-homicidal rage and baseball bat swinging mayhem.

In the spirit of compromise, here's a nice flickr set of this year's Lord & Taylor holiday window displays. Also, for any hipper-than-thou children in your lives, here's the block version of NYC.