Often as adults we lose the ability to be surprised — even at Christmas.  Once we reach a certain age, we’ve seen it all and lose that sense of wonder and expectation. We’ve been around the block a few times, and flogged more than once.  Our hearts grow jaded and learn to live without anticipation. A special Christmas me...Read More

Christmas is about family and sharing. I was always told that when I reached my fifties, it would be my "Golden Years". Not so for me. When I turned fifty, my mother passed away, the following month we found out my sister had cancer. My sister was 12 years older then I, and because my mom took care of her invalid mother all of my childhoo...Read More

I gave birth to my son on December 24, 1967.  Ten years later I had my daughter.  She had her son on December 29, 2003. My daughter was born on July 24, 1977.  She had her daughter July 9, 2006. Two blessing with the same month.  What are the chances of this happening, especially when it wasn’t even planned? We alway’...Read More

As a 7 year old, I began to question the existance of Santa.  My parents were out for the evening, and my aunt was babysitting.  This seemed like a great opportunity to explore this question.  I told my aunt that I didn’t think there was a Santa and she looked at me in shock.  "Oh Joyce, you are just like your sister ...Read More

This particular Christmas season I have been dating a very special lady. I am within days of asking her to marry me. Just being with her makes everything seem magical, mystical and miraculous.  Each meal we share is a feast prepared with love, affection, and volumes of communication. We always seem to know what the other is thinking and feelin...Read More

Christmas morning in our house was always quite an event. Having an older sister and older brother and mom and dad, my life included more than just us. We were blessed enough to care for foster children from Catholic Charities. More than once we had four or five extra children in the house at one time. For that reason, my parents made Christmas ver...Read More

Our two older sons quite enjoyed travelling into London by train at Christmas time.  Hamley’s Toy Store was their very favorite, and Paddington Bear was on the top of their list during our family’s first Christmas living in England in the early 1980’s. There’s something simply magical about Christmas in England. It trul...Read More

Today is a day I must put in my journal.  It was definitely a day to remember¦ My dad loves to take field trips on Saturdays. With him still working that’s his favorite day to just take off and go somewhere He says it about once a month at 7:30 AM. He tries real hard to sneak into my room but I can always sense his presence. Today he su...Read More

My mother once ordered a pair of shoes from Fredericks of Hollywood. They were black velvet stilettos with cut-out toes and straps that snaked up her ankles. Filling in an order form from a catalog she snitched from the doctor’s waiting room, she then attached a note to the Frederick’s people. Please deliver the package wrapped in plain...Read More

I believe that what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren’t trying to teach us. ” Umberto Eco My friend Beverly asked me, If you could sit on your porch and have a long visit with anybody living or dead, who would it be? John F. Kennedy crossed my mind, as did Eleanor Roosevelt and Anne Morrow Lindber...Read More

My Mother was my hero, my confidant and one of my best friends. She passed at age 72 from heart disease. My Mother was a Preacher’s Wife for 58 years. She was also the "Grand Worthy Matron" of the Order of Eastern Star for Tennessee in 1997. She played piano and sang on many many occasions from Weddings to Funerals and everything in...Read More