I have two favorite Christmas gifts this year.  One, from my lovely first wife, is a simple brass bowl, a singing bowl from Tibet. Nothing to look at, but when you strike it the tone resonates for a full 1:50 minutes—probably longer if you were truly listening in a quiet room.  It’s astounding.

The other is at the opposite end of the spiritual scale:

My son gave me a silicone ice cube tray that makes ice cubes that are two inches on a side.  Other than being just hipster-awful, they are a gift from the gods.  I think all right-thinking people would agree that if we were able to identify the individual who invented half-moon ice “cube” makers for refrigerators, no grand jury would indict us for whatever violence we inflicted on him once we dragged him out of his house and through the streets.  Nasty, awful things that block the flow of tissue-restoring fluids from the glass to your throat—truly a crime against civilisation.

But these… They are majestic in their grand simplicity.  One drink, one cube: less dilution, perfect chill, and no blockage of life-giving liquids, ever.  Truly, a wise child to give so marvelous a gift.