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It’s Going To Be A Christmas Noir
You know the drill. It’s October, Halloween hasn’t even happened and it’s already starting to creep into your life. It is lurking in the corners, on a side of a four-way display and it building up high...
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Holiday Haiku
Gifts, ornaments, lights Family drama, Long flights Love, joy, cozy nights — Photo by Emma Papaioannou on Unsplash — How do you celebrate the many layers of the season? Become a contributor to The...
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Burnt Out Christmas Lights
Every Christmas I subject myself to a multitude of romantic Christmas movies which leave me yearning for the picture-perfect holiday. Yes, I know we should not fantasize our life be like the idyllic...
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An Ugly Truth About Ugly Christmas Sweaters
It’s ugly Christmas sweater season. I usually don’t think much about ugly Christmas sweaters. They seem harmless enough. But as a public school teacher, I have learned that there are few things that...
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How to Infuse Your Family With the Spirit of Generosity This Christmas
Sheri Madigan, University of Calgary Around this time each year, many children have made a Christmas wish list that includes items like toys, games, crafts and electronics. While children may express...
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The Holidays are a Time to Remember that What We Need Can Be Fought for and Won
As many people do, I have almost always looked forward to the holidays. When I was a child, I looked forward to gifts. As a student and teacher, I looked forward to a vacation from school. For most of...
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Shining a Light on Connection
Should you ever be traveling around the east of the Netherlands in December you will see a number of bright beams of light shining up into the winter night sky. The beams seem random to the untrained...
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Male Stereotype Number 25: Men Are Childish
Christmas is the most fitting occasion to talk about the transition — or lack thereof — from boyhood to manhood. Despite working long hours, paying bills, supporting kids, and all the other...
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Keeping the True Spirit of Christmas Alive
Growing up, I remember the excitement of the department store toy catalog showing up in the mail around Thanksgiving. The abundance of toy commercials on TV during Saturday morning cartoons. But, that...
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Disappointment About Gifts is Good for Kids who Have Enough
Nikki Martyn, University of Guelph-Humber and Elena Merenda, University of Guelph-Humber Disappointment is a natural human emotion that occurs after a perceived failure. For our young children, this...
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O Henry
TASK #47: O Henry “Love is what you’ve been through with someone”. James Thurber Here are my all time top Christmas movies: 1)“It’s A Wonderful Life” When the mean-as-a-snake druggist smacks George in...
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Single at the Holi-Daze
— It is Christmas morning. As I am writing these words, I am listening to my favorite member-supported radio station, WXPN which is broadcasting holiday music. Based at the University of Pennsylvania...
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My Christmas Ode to Wayne Dyer
— On a recent episode of Real Men Feel, I was talking with Buddy Carchide about social experiments and acts of kindness. I shared a story about Wayne Dyer giving away cash to homeless people on his...
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Regardless of What Else You Put on, Wear Love
— Welcome to my weekly ‘Layman’s Lectionary’ series where I stumble my way through the liturgical year and share my layman’s opinions, doubts, fears, and hopes about modern culture and daily life as it...
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Team Optimism
Last year I created a Twitter hashtag for writers called #TeamOptimism. It started out as a fun encouraging GIF to boost both my own and other writers’ spirits during a Twitter novel-pitching contest...
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Santa Asked If I Wanted a Million Dollars or the Best Mom in the World?
The title of this article appeared on a card that my 31 year-old-son gave me yesterday at the gathering of family at his new abode. He and his wife Lauren moved in this past August after a lengthy...
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The Devil Is Not Fire’s Only Friend
There are dozens of reasons why humans are so fascinated with fire; I just don’t know what they are. Perhaps, it is its primal, elemental nature that speaks to our primitive selves. Or, maybe–to quote...
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Neither Here nor There
When You’re Not There Yet The day after Christmas, my cousin and I were on a flight that was just about to land at the Albuquerque airport. The pilots pulled up the plane at the last moment and circled...
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The Incredible Hulk Last Call
— The book opens in Reno, Nevada at Christmas time, which is odd considering that the comic book was just released this week. But hey, who am I to judge when they set these things, right? We see Dr...
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Man on the Edge
Let It Be There comes the time when time is both in short and infinite supply. When days last long, though there aren’t many of them left. Why does life play us this way? With youth comes virility,...
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