Despite some situational naiveté, the threat of spoiling perhaps the largest collective international lie is posed upon parents every year when they decide to turn on the television and allow their children to take in Christmas content.
In the bathroom of the Hyannisport hotel, I did my makeup to “Hard Feelings/Loveless” and sang in the mirror. At midnight, my best friend held my hand and sat in my parked car while “Writer in the Dark” droned on. I was a junior in high school and not nearly old enough to understand what genuine heartbreak was.