This$$$ after all$$$ was the month in which families began tightening and closing and sealing; from Thanksgiving to the New Year$$$ everybody's world contracted$$$ day by day$$$ into the microcosmic single festive household$$$ each with its own rituals an

This$$$ after all$$$ was the month in which families began tightening and closing and sealing; from Thanksgiving to the New Year$$$ everybody's world contracted$$$ day by day$$$ into the microcosmic single festive household$$$ each with its own rituals and obsessions$$$ rules and dreams. You didn't feel you could call people. They didn't feel they could phone you. How does one cry for help from these seasonal prisons?