It's Monday the 28th December 2020. I'm Lane Greene, the economist's language columnist.

Welcome to Editors' Picks, where you can hear three long reads from the holiday issue

of the economist.

This week, Christmas newsletters are a guide to history, but will social media kill the

tradition?

Next, the life of Desiderias Erasmus, a champion of moderation who had the misfortune to live

in a revolutionary era.

And what is the lure of pebbles for a man who lives surrounded by them?

The stories you're about to hear are just a sample of what's on offer in the paper.

Treat yourself or others this holiday season with a subscription to the economist, where

you can read or listen to all of our journalism.

For a special introductory offer, go to economist.com-podcastoffer.

The link is in the show.

First up, Season's Greetings.

On Christmas Day in 1948, Marie Harris published the mid-century equivalent of a status update.

In June that year, lying on the beach watching the waves of the Pacific roll-in, she and

her husband Bob had decided they needed more space for their young family.

Through an ad in the local paper, they found just the place, a rambling old farmhouse with

green shutters in rural Shed, Oregon.

They swapped their crowded city digs for a retreat worthy of Instagram, five acres of

land, thick with boys and berries, apple, pear and walnut trees.

But apart from the 17 chickens, three geese, two cats, a cow, a duck, and a colleague called

...