The Christmas Tree: The Real True Story After doing some research, it’s obvious to me that, to this point, no one knew how this whole Christmas tree thing got started. It’s not like someone picked up a pen and kept notes. But I did some digging, and I can now tell you the real story of… Read More »
36 Minutes… and Counting The older I get the more skeptical I get. I can’t help it. Once you’ve seen it all before, you’ve seen it all before and it gets harder for hooligans to pull the wool over your eyes. If you’re younger than sixty, you won’t get this, but, trust me you will. There… Read More »
A Few Weeks Before Christmas Last night, late, when the house was quiet and the only sound was the late-autumn wind whipping the skeletons of the forgotten lifeless trees, I watched the flame of a single candle flicker and thought about what Christmas meant to me. I looked out the window and saw a winter scene painted… Read More »
My Special Thanksgiving When I think of Thanksgiving, I think of myself as a boy, watching the Thanksgiving parade on television, my mom busy in the kitchen preparing our Thanksgiving dinner, and the feeling of love all around. I remember gray, cold, and cloudy days and the steamy windows that cooking made. And I remember Thanksgiving snowflakes in… Read More »
On November Here, in November, all things that grow upon the Earth choke on the cold, wet air and die unceremoniously in masses of brown death. Each November brings a pestilence of darkness. The sun goes to bed early and sleeps late every morning. The cold, nearly-frozen rain taunts the landscape but stays just on the… Read More »
On Friendship and Breakfast: Remembering My Best Friend Preface: My best friend died three years ago on November 10, 2020. I wrote an essay on the morning of November 11, 2020, in tribute to him. Three years later, I still find it hard to believe he’s gone. Today, in remembrance of his passing, and in his… Read More »