The Holidays: When Joy and Loss Co-Mingle

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving visit with my younger son and his family. They flew in from Denver, and my son’s first child from a previous relationship, now a college sophomore who lives across the river in Indiana, came over as well. A special joy was seeing that no matter how many months the younger…

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No Bah Humbug for Me! Why I Love the Holidays

I often hear less than enthusiastic comments about this time of year: “I can’t wait for the holidays to be over!” “This is so stressful.” “There’s always so much to do and not enough time.” Well, yeah. The to-do list I made this morning has a mere 24 items on it. But I love the…

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Holiday Letters Make Terrible Fiction

Our friends and family are far flung, so every year, I make a special effort to do a holiday newsletter and send pictures of our grandkids. This year, we’ve had wonderful things in our family to celebrate—a new grandbaby on the way, one of our sons being named head basketball coach at the high school…

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Life:Beginnings and Endings

Wishing all of you a beautiful Thanksgiving! Holidays invariably put me in a reflective mood. Here’s what was on my mind during my travels yesterday: The train ride between New York and Boston is a mere four hours long, but the distance I travel between my son’s Manhattan household to my mom’s Cambridge apartment seems…

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The Cycle of Life

We’d just finished a deliciously decadent Thanksgiving dinner, the first my younger son and his family had hosted, when my son held up the candle at our table and announced

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Why I Miss the Holidays

Three weeks out from New Year’s Eve, and at least seven folks have said to me, “Thank God the holidays are over.” I can sure relate. My stress-o-meter zooms to new heights the week before my family arrives. Between finishing up last minute shopping, worrying about the holiday cards I haven’t yet started (oops), and…

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What to Give the Writer in Your Life

Since I’m about to finish my MFA from Seton Hill University in Writing Popular Fiction, I’ve been doing some shopping for gifts to express my appreciation to the terrific professional writer/mentors I’ve worked with. Surfing the net for “gifts for writers” has made me reflect on the gifts folks have given me over the years.…

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Is This Heaven? Reflections on Thanksgiving

When our children were growing up, we had a Sunday evening ritual of lighting a candle after dinner and taking turns talking about what we were thankful for. Our then seven-year-old said, “Now let me just start with my un-thankfuls.” Truthfully, there’s a lot to be un-thankful about this Thanksgiving. In so many ways, the…

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What Really Matters

Originally posted on December 5, 2014 Dear Friends, Here we are again smack in the middle of the holiday season which seems to have begun … Oh, I don’t know, around August 1st? I admit it. I’m a huge sucker for the holidays. I love getting out the holiday decorations we’ve collected over the years (the…

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