Christmas Angels

Sometimes we don’t immediately recognize them—those low-keyed saints who come marching through our lives. But this holiday season, I’ve made a conscious effort to be more mindful of the myriad of people who help make my own bumpy life function just a little bit...

Nutcracker Suite

By dinking around on the Internet, I’ve found some pretty interesting holiday puzzles, games, and rebuses to entertain my friends at parties over the years. This year, I located a really challenging Christmas Song Quiz. Maybe too challenging! Here’s a sampling: The...

Ninja Santas

On “Black Friday,” the official start to holiday shopping season, I was working the Grange Bazaar. To set the tone, I completed my outfit with a bright holiday hat and a pair of festive metal star-shaped Santa earrings. When a former student of mine came in, I was...

Signature colors

The mind is never idle, and as I sat the last six weekends at six different holiday bazaars, it occurred to me that The Lavender Lady, often setting up her wares at a table near mine, was always dressed in lavender. What a concept, huh? I immediately wanted a...

Toppling Christmas Trees

Okay, raise your hand if you’ve ever inadvertently knocked over your Christmas tree. Uh-huh, I thought so. Me too. The latest of which, quite fortunately, was PRIOR to decorating the gorgeous monolith now standing precariously in my living room. I’m not ready to say...