Fantasy-fueled expectations about Christmas come straight out of a Dickensian novel, a Rockwellian painting, and a media bent on portraying Christmas in extravagant images and evocative messages. The rest of it comes straight out of our childhood—the mystery of Santa Claus, the savory and sweet food preparations, the rustle of… Read More »How Unrealistic Expectations Can Take the Joy Out of Christmas
My Christmas greeting is a big Thank You to you, my readers, for motivating me to search for new and compelling topics each week, for keeping me on my toes, and staying conscious in my writing. I value your thoughtful comments, and occasional challenges. You always let me know when… Read More »A Christmas Greeting For 2017
Most of my family had ‘the conversation’ about Christmas shopping years ago. They opted out of ‘obligatory gift giving’, and decided to focus on other elements of Christmas instead—getting together, creating happy experiences, enjoying a special day. I envied their escape from the retail carnage of Christmas shopping, vowing I’d… Read More »The Dark Side of Christmas Shopping
This week my husband went downstairs to the storage room to bring up our boxes of Christmas tree decorations. It takes real commitment to do this every year. After all, we know what those boxes contain—glass balls without the metal hangers, garlands with last year’s needles still attached, and messes… Read More »Eureka! It’s Time to Light up the Christmas Tree!
Let’s put aside the hateful political rhetoric that has dominated the news for months. Let’s stop speculating about the fearsome cabinet picks of the new president-elect—especially those who have a hate-based reputation. And let’s stop giving air space to the “fake news” that is currently poking it’s head out of the… Read More »It’s Christmas—Let’s Talk About Love
Today marks the three week deadline to Christmas, stores have been clamoring about it for weeks, emotional pressure is building up, and once again, I wonder what I can change to make preparations easier. Two years ago, I edited my Christmas card list, last year I halved my gift buying,… Read More »Christmas, Cabooses, Cars—And Change!
We had Christmas at our grandmother’s once. It was almost dark when we started out. Fanny and Baldy were stomping their feet and snorting in front of the house, wondering, “Where are they?” They always wanted to get going as soon as their harnesses were on, but today Mumma was… Read More »A Senior Remembers: A Long Ago Christmas
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