Letter From The Editor

Metro-Christina-MugThis isn’t something I usually admit to anyone, let alone to everyone in print, but my older sister and I used to listen to Hanson’s Christmas album, Snowed In, on repeat every year during the holidays. (Yes, I am talking about those boys responsible for MMMBop, which should probably win the title of “Most Irritating Song of the 1990s,” if that were a thing.)

As soon as Thanksgiving was over, Snowed In would go straight into the CD player and stay there until New Year’s. We’d listen to it in her room wrapping presents, and as we got older, driving to the mall to go Christmas shopping. We listened to it well past the time Hanson was popular, then well past the time it was socially acceptable to listen to a boy band. Heck, if she were home this Christmas, there is a chance we’d still be listening to it.

Reading Roger Bong’s column this week (Page 19), I remembered that this is the kind of stuff that Christmas is really about. (No, not Hanson — although my sister would likely debate that.) It’s about all those little traditions — however weird or outdated or dumb they may be — that you have with your loved ones. The important thing to do, as Roger writes, is to spend time with the people you care about, rather than agonizing over what to get them.

This year, I have felt that the holiday season has been particularly busy. I’m certainly not complaining, because for me, most of it has been fun busy, not OK-bye-I-need-to-go-sleep-for-a-week-straight-now busy. If you’re feeling a little run down, too, and do want to crawl into bed for a week, Christa Wittmier is here to help with the lowdown on a couple of apps that are designed to optimize your sleep on Page 9.

For more festive fun, Jaimie Kim takes us inside a sprawling gingerbread house on display at Sheraton Princess Kaiulani on Page 16. And don’t forget to check out photos from the annual SantaCon bar hop on Page 20.

From all of us at Metro to all of you, Happy Holidays.