Stephanie Foo: Have yourself a lonely little Christmas

A few years ago, I lived across the street from a halfway house in the Lower East Side. Sometimes I’d meander over to bum cigarettes from the men who loitered outside, and we’d smoke and make small talk. One Christmas, I brought over a large cheesecake as a consolation gift: None of us were spending Christmas with our families, and none of us were thrilled about it.“Christmas is a social construct!” I told them. “It’s just a day like any other day.”They