Home for the Holidays Tammy and I, along with our two boys, spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Tammy’s family. On Boxing Day, we traveled to my parents’ home to spend the rest of our Christmas vacation with my family. Yet, the homes to which we traveled were vastly different—At Tammy’s parents, we stayed […]

He’s Coming to Town As a kid, my anticipation was great. The family would gather at my grandparents’ home on Christmas Eve, and as we were driving home, there was only one thought on my mind: Santa Claus was coming to my house! I’d wonder which of the red blinking lights on antennas was really […]

O Christmas Lights As a little kid, I knew it was Christmas when Mom and Dad put our little tree up. Putting the tree up was usually accompanied by hot chocolate and laughter and fun. I always loved the day the tree went up. As I grew older, we stopped putting up the plastic tree […]

Inexpensive Gift Ideas As a kid, I couldn’t wait for Christmas. We’d gather at my grandparents’ home on Christmas Eve and there would be gifts and gifts and gifts. Whatever I wanted that Nannie and Papaw could afford, I got—train sets, aquariums, telescopes, plastic models of planes and the Space Shuttle, and anything else I […]

Crying Over a Loss On election night, I watched what once was considered an improbability become inevitable—the election of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States. Yes, I had been saying for two weeks or more that Trump would win, but I did have trouble wrapping my mind around Trump’s victory. Secretary Clinton’s […]