I love the atmosphere at the mall - everything about Christmas. I don't think anything specific gets me in the holiday spirit except for the holidays themselves.
Christmas always rustled. It rustled every time, mysteriously, with silver and gold paper, tissue paper and a rich abundance of shiny paper, decorating and hiding everything and giving a feeling of reckless extravagance.
There is probably a smell of roasted chestnuts and other good comfortable things all the time, for we are telling Winter Stories - Ghost Stories, or more shame for us - round the Christmas fire; and we have never stirred, except to draw a little nearer to it.
You know how on Christmas day, the day feels different, even if you're just sitting in your chair waiting for your girlfriend to put her face on and you haven't even started any of the festivities yet, the day still feels different. The electrons are fatter and pushier.
I'm in an age bracket now where I can play the father of an adult daughter whose going through her life issues, and she'll come to me for advice while I'm wearing my Christmas sweater and swirling a cup of hot cocoa.
I love cooking during Christmas, all smells like the hot apple cider, the hot spiced wine.
The smell of pine needles, spruce and the smell of a Christmas tree - those to me, are the scents of the holidays.
I'm often in Venice in November and December, when it's foggy and wintry, and the decorations in the shops and the lights in the churches make the place feel both Christmassy and melancholic.
