One of my most cherished and clearly crystallized memories of Christmas features a mouse named Pip. Pip was as much a holiday mainstay as Rudolph, Frosty and Santa himself. In fact, Pip was even more real to me thanks to bygone days when a retailer named Max Hess was also a supreme showman. Ah, Hess's department store. There are still Hess's gift boxes covered with the familiar red, green and blue script logo in my closet. I'll never throw them out. The grand holiday shopping trip from my little Carbon County coal hometown of Nesquehoning to the Big City of Allentown ranks right up there with…