as sentimental as i am, i've never been one for a nostalgic christmas tree. i've always gone for the carefully placed, curated, perfectly...

For the first time in probably 20 years or more, we didn't go to Christmas Eve services at church. I'd be lying if I said I missed Pastor...

Christmas isn't easy for everyone. Sometimes, it can be hard to muster joy, sing a carol or laugh at a party. There may be a temptation...

DECEMBER 2021 - White Christmases are rare in my part of the country. You’re far more likely to have the windows open and the air...

DECEMBER 2018 - I’ve already established, in past blogs, that I’m not for skipping past Thanksgiving to go straight into Christmas the...

DECEMBER 2017 - A rare, early-December snow coupled with an unexpected complication or two landed me in front of a warm fire getting lost...

NOVEMBER 2017 - It’s two days before Thanksgiving, and I am as giddy as a kid on Christmas Eve. My boy, my musician, my college...

FEBRUARY 2017 - It is 7 a.m. The sun is up in Ichmul, Mexico, and the only sound is the occasional rooster or the wild birds that hide in...

DECEMBER 2016 - Our Christmas tree took a turn toward the rustic this year, and the finishing touch is 10 jute stars, a gift from Valerie...

DECEMBER 2016 - Two days after Christmas I and 24 others from my church, will fly to Mexico for a week of mission work in the towns of...

DECEMBER 2016 - Maybe it’s because we are living in such combative times, coming off a contentious election where every soul with an...

DECEMBER 2016 - All too often in these materialistic days, the commercial and social aspects of the Christmas season have tended to...

JANUARY 2016 - Four words. Atkinson’s Peanut Butter Bar. Every once in a while you come upon that thing that transports you back in time....

DECEMBER 2015 - This holiday didn't turn out like I thought it would. I have been told that Christmas is for kids and that the magic of...

DECEMBER 2015 - My sweet cousin, already a candidate for World's Greatest Mom, posted on Facebook this picture of her family's nativity...

Somewhere in a dusty box is a crayon drawing on construction paper, a Christmas card I drew for my mom 40 years ago. It was a gift, but,...

JANUARY 2012 - Know what I miss? Anticipation, bad pictures of cute people and kids playing together. What took them away? Technology....

DECEMBER 2011 - Christmas is a difficult holiday for me. I’ve done it to myself, allowing my brain to fill with sentimentals, and hopeful...

The thought started as so many do. The night was cold and clear, stars shining against a black sky. While Copper, our yellow Lab, sniffed...

DECEMBER 2011 - I don’t where I first got the idea that Christmas was about midnight snowfall and warm reunions, but somewhere along the...