From Both of Us to All of you — MERRY CHRISTMAS! Children’s eyes are bright and gleaming, Christmas Eve is finally here! Outside my window, snow is falling, It’s the brightest evening of the year. Children dream of Christmas morning, Santa Claus is on the way! And I, a father,… Read More »
The Gift That Keeps on Giving 2025 How many of you have seen National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation? I’m pretty sure most of you have seen it. Do you remember when Clark Griswold’s Christmas Bonus turned out to be a one-year membership to the Jelly of the Month Club, and Eddie quipped, “That’s the gift that keeps… Read More »
The Old Oak and the Christmas Tree Place 2025 Preface This story started thirty years ago when my youngest son was 14. I wrote this essay when he was a freshman in college and living away from home for the first time. He’s 44 now and has a family of his own. We had our annual Christmas tree… Read More »
Christmas Memories It’s officially Christmastime. Even for those like me who find the commercial frenzy that drives retailers to start Christmas on Halloween upsetting, Christmastime is here. Unfortunately, many have allowed their greed to overshadow the Christmas spirit and diminish some of the joys of the season by starting Christmas in October. Nonetheless, there are only a… Read More »
Not Fat, Yet… Well, it’s not been a fun year, but it’s getting better. Having two children who live very far apart meant pappy gets two Thanksgiving feasts each year. I’m not known as a temperate kind of guy. So after having a lousy year healthwise, I ate heartily at both feasts… But…I’m not fat. Yet. But… Read More »
Apple John The fluorescent lights of the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit cast a sickly, indifferent glare, turning every surface into a shiny, cold canvas of white and gray. Sepsis had brought me here and stripped me of my strength, my health, and my name, reducing me to a patient ID and a series of alarming medical-machine beeps.… Read More »