Holiday Guide

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Adventures on the Santa Train
by Rob Simbeck
Santa Claus is standing on the back of a train stopped somewhere in southeastern Kentucky, throwing toys and candy to the screaming throng below.


Hanukkah Heaven
by Lee Stabert
If scientists could figure out how to make a day’s worth of oil last for eight, like it did back in the day, we wouldn’t be in this mess.


Have Water, Will Runoff
by Liz Garrigan
A map of Davidson County’s “impaired”—or polluted, as most of us would say—streams and tributaries looks a little like the graded blue book from my freshman chemistry class.


Holiday Guide 2007
Santa's driving a Prius this year, folks. And Prancer will just have to get over it.


Open Letter From a (Christmas) Tree
by Doug Fir
As we head into the grand consumption festival you call “Christmastime,” I want to go out on a limb and break the tree-to-human silence.


Rock ’n’ Roll Christmas
by Tracy Moore
In this town, everybody knows a broke-ass musician—always borrowing money, never bringin’ a bottle of wine to a dinner party, always scarfing down their food like its their last meal.


The Nevergreen Season
by Carrington Fox
Like Templeton, the rat from Charlotte’s Web, I envisioned the Dumpsters of Nashville’s restaurants as a veritable smorgasbord (orgasbord, orgasbord) of leftover top-quality cuisine.

From the Archives

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Presents of Mind
It’s a crying shame that Nashville only has two charter schools, publicly funded reform efforts that are free from many of the bureaucratic requirements that bind regular district schools.

Visions of Chicken Festivals
Regional food festivals are more than a way for towns across America to wave their arms and shout, “Sir, I exist!” as the Food Network drives by.

The Thoughts That Count
This holiday season, why not give gifts that have two recipients: the person who gets the present and the nonprofit organization that benefits from your selection?

One Helluva Potluck
If you’re going to gain an average of five pounds during the holidays, why not make it interesting? Trade in your Stove Top stuffing for Greek-style yemisi and swap your cranberry sauce for beer-and-raisin salad—whatever that is. But more important than the food, surround yourself at the holiday table with people you enjoy.

The Scene's Trees of Christmas
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Cheekwood should be blushing. We’ve dreamed up our own series of holiday trees, decorated with the visions that dance through Scene writers’ heads