Christmas was near a season that we took seriously in our house. But a week or so before the 25th, my father would give each of his children $ 20. This was the 1970s, and $ 20 was quite a bit of money.

    But I saw it differently. My father trusted me to have the smart to spend money wisely. Even better, he gave me the means to get it. On a very basic level, my father was giving me a shopping spree (狂欢) every year.. But he was also giving me charge over my own fun, trusting my ability to manage money and making me feel like a grown-up. He didn't buy me Sherlock Holmes, but he gave me the means to walk into the bookstore and choose it for myself, so it felt like a gift from him.

    My mother had a gift for giving me what I needed, usually right at the moment I needed it most. This was when I was 25, I failed at being an adult on my very first try. I had quitted my previous job but had no new one. But when my mother paid me a visit, I put on a good show, telling her I had started my own company.

    My mother knew that I was trying hard and failing at that time. It wasn't until after she left that I noticed at the foot of my bed an envelope thick with cash. She knew how desperately I needed it. She knew that had she just shown up with groceries, or offered to pay my rent, she would have made me feel much worse. The cold, hard cash meant she was helping me. And, funnily enough, the distance with which she gave the gift felt like she was giving me space to fix my life and preserve my dignity. My mother and father both did the same thing. One was giving me the means to take my own decisions, and the other was giving me a second chance when those decisions had cost me dearly.

    Grandparents Answer a Call

    As a third-generation native of Brownsville, Texas, Mildred Garza never planned to move away. Even when her daughter and son asked her to move to San Antonio to help with their children, she politely refused. Only after a year of friendly discussion did Ms. Garza finally say yes. That was four years ago. Today all three generations regard the move as a success, giving them a closer relationship than they would have had in separate cities.

    No statistics show the number of grandparents like Garza who are moving closer to adult children and grandchildren. Yet there is evidence (证据) suggesting that the trend (趋势) is growing. Even President Obama's mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, has agreed to leave Chicago and move into the White House to help care for her granddaughters. According to a study by grandparents.com, 83 percent of the people said Mrs. Robinson's decision will influence grandparents in the American family. Two-thirds believe more families will follow the example of Obama's family.

    “In the 1960s we were all a little wild and couldn't get away from home far enough or fast enough to prove we could do it on our own,” says Christine Crosby, publisher of Grand, a magazine for grandparents. “We now realize how important family is and how important it is to be near them, especially when you're raising children.”

    Moving is not for everyone. Almost every grandparent wants to be with his or her grandchildren and is willing to make sacrifices (牺牲), but sometimes it is wiser to say no and visit frequently instead. Having your grandchildren far away is hard, especially knowing your adult child is struggling, but giving up the life you know may be harder.

    I believe children have a very pure sense of humor. Well, I would like to share my experiences with you.

    The other day when I was out with a friend and her daughter Jane at a restaurant, Jane ordered an apple dessert, which was the most attractive dish in that restaurant. However, when she had a bite of the pie, she shouted loudly, "Mom, why does it look good but tastes like rubber?" My friend was uneasy. Then the waiter gave us another dish.

    A child can say funny things. I was at a friend's home for tea and her son, Mark, wanted her to get up. His mom replied, "I can't, because my foot has fallen asleep now." Little Mark then sang a song and asked, "Mom, will it wake up now?" We laughed together.

    The other day we were having an interesting conversation over lunch and my friend, an animal activist (积极分子) , was arguing with another group member. Her son Tommy suddenly stood up, “Mom, people should never be allowed to shoot extinct animals!” That was funny and the child did manage to turn the argument into a pleasant conversation.

    Well, children sometimes really surprise us. I think we can have a lot to learn from them. They can help us understand the simple world through their eyes.

    As an old saying in China goes, "The days of the Sanjiu period are the coldest days." "Sanjiu period", which is in Minor Cold, refers to the third nine-day period (the 19th to the 27th day) after the day of the Winter Solstice (冬至). There are many different customs related to Minor Cold in China.

    Eating hotpot

    During Minor Cold people should eat some hot food to benefit the body and defend against the cold weather. Winter is the best time to have hotpot and braised mutton with soy sauce. But it is important to notice that too much spicy food may cause health problems.

    Eating huangyacai

    In Tianjin, there is a custom to have huangyacai, a kind of Chinese cabbage, during Minor Cold. There are large amounts of vitamins A and B in huangyacai. As huangyacai is fresh and tender, it is fit for frying, roasting and braising.

    Eating glutinous rice (糯米饭)

    According to tradition, the Cantonese eat glutinous rice in the morning during Minor Cold. Cantonese people add some fried preserved pork, sausages and peanuts and mix them into the rice.

    Eating vegetable rice

    In ancient times, people in Nanjing took Minor Cold quite seriously, but as time went by, the celebration of Minor Cold gradually disappeared. However, the custom of eating vegetable rice is still followed today. The rice is steamed and is unspeakably delicious. Among the ingredients (原料), aijiaohuang (a kind of green vegetable), sausages and salted duck are the specialties in Nanjing.

    Do you often feel like you want to wash your hands again and again? Or do you ever have the urge to line up the items on your desk? These all may be symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (强迫症), or OCD, which affects about 2 percent of the world's population.

    Those who suffer from OCD have difficulty finding successful treatment because doctors don't clearly understand its causes. But now, a new study has given hope for a future cure.

    For the study, which was published in the journal Nature in October, researchers observed humans, dogs and mice. They discovered four genes that may be responsible for obsessive-compulsive behaviors in humans.

    But why observe dogs and mice to learn about humans?

    "Dogs, it turns out, are surprisingly similar to people," study author and geneticist Elinor Karlsson, of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University, US, told NPR. "They're chasing their own tail or chasing shadows like normal, but they're doing it for hours."

    In the study, researchers made a list of about 600 genes in mice, dogs and humans that they thought might cause OCD, reported NPR. They then compared those genes in two large groups of people – those who don't have OCD and those who do. In the end, they identified just four genes with mutations (突变) in the OCD group. The genes are active in a neurological pathway (神经通路) in the brain, which is believed to help control actions. But the mutations could block the neurological pathway.

    For example, for people without OCD, when they finish washing their hands, a signal will come, telling them to stop. But for people with OCD, the neurological pathway is blocked, so the message isn't getting through. As a result, the person will continue to wash their hands.

    "OCD and anxiety are kind of like learning disorders," Marcos Grados, an OCD researcher at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told NPR. "Often with OCD, people have a fear of germs (细菌). You can't touch tables or door knobs (把手) and every time it's the same sensation (感觉). You didn't learn that the last time you touched a door knob, nothing happened. It's like touching it for the first time ever."

    However, that doesn't mean people who have these genetic mutations will always have obsessive-compulsive behaviors, the researchers said. That's because the disorder also relies on other things, such as one's environment.

    According to reports, various existing treatment methods have low success rates in patients. But now that we know where OCD comes from, let's hope we will soon find an effective way to treat it.

Painting is an ancient medium and even with the introduction of photography, film and digital technology, it still has remained a persistent mode of expression. So many paintings have come into being over the years but only a small percentage of them could be described as "timeless classics". The following are some of the most famous paintings of all time. 

Leonardo Da Vinci, Mona Lisa, 1503—1519

Painted between 1503 and 1519, Leonardo da Vinci's attractive portrait has been a subject of controversy since the day it was made, due to two questions: Who's the subject and why is she smiling? A number of theories for the former have been provided over the years: That she's the wife of the Florentine merchant Francesco di Bartolomeo del Giocondo and that she's Leonardo's mother, Caterina. As for that famous smile, its quality has driven people crazy for hundreds of years. 

James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1. 1871

Whistler's Mother, or Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, as it's actually titled, speaks to the artist's ambition to pursue art for art's sake. James Abbott McNeill Whistler painted the work in his London studio in 1871. Whistler's mother Anna is pictured as one of several elements locked into an arrangement of right angles. Her severe expression fits in with the rigidity of the composition, and it's somewhat ironic to note that despite Whistler's formalist intentions, the painting became a symbol of motherhood. 

Jan van Eyck, The Arnolfini Portrait, 1434

As one of the most significant works produced during the Northern Renaissance, this composition is believed to be one of the first paintings finished in oils. It portrays an Italian merchant and a woman who may or may not be his bride. In 1934. the celebrated art historian Erwin Panofsky proposed that the painting is actually a wedding contract. What can be reliably said is that the piece used orthogonal perspective to create a sense of space. It feels like a painting you could step into.