Do you remember feeling like a grown-up, being given the responsibility of an adult, allowed to do your parent’s special project for the first time? I had one of those experiences and it was such a wonderful feeling to be treated like an adult. I was a serious child and tried to perform my very best at every age. But some things can’t be rushed like skipping childhood quickly to become an adult. It was Christmas Eve and I was …
These are some of the funniest April Fools’ Day hoaxes. In 1998, Burger King took out a full-page ad in USA Today, announcing they had created a Whopper for nearly 32 million left-handed Americans. They said that the new Whopper had all the same ingredients, but the condiments were “rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers.” They must have had a good laugh when a lot of people requested the old “right-handed” version (abcnews.go.com). Then, in 1978, …
I often wonder if kissing under the mistletoe wasn’t started by a couple of kids quite by accident. In my imagination, I could envision a couple of kids playing in the woods behind the house, jumping on the piles of leaves and branches that had fallen on the ground and discovering a little sprig of mistletoe, and running after each other with it, like a game of tag. Again, in my imagination, I could envision this ten-year-old boy running after …
Yesterday was Christmas and I woke up with a fierce craving for a piece of rich, gooey, chocolate cake with chocolate fudge and a scoop of ice cream. The kind of dessert that should come with a warning label that says that it’s illegal or immoral and eating it is at your own peril. I was telling someone very dear to me about a restaurant that’s been in business for at least thirty years, and how, when one of my …
As a rule, during the holiday season, I used to see people being nicer and more jovial. Maybe not quite jovial, but more mellow. This year, there seems to be a marked decrease in the holiday cheer. Usually during the days leading up to Christmas, people used to be more patient when standing in long lines at the store. This year, there is more of an attitude of resignation. In the past, people used to talk to each other while …
It’s interesting to read articles about allowing ourselves to eat chocolate in moderation over the holidays to prevent us from feeling deprived. Most of them advocate that we plan ahead so that it’s included in the meal and, that way, we’ll be too full from the meal to gorge on it. I don’t know who these writers are but I can tell you, with absolute conviction, that if you have a sugar addiction, you won’t be able to stop with …
I’m a little bit confused. By this time of year, with only two weeks to go until Christmas, no one is acting like it’s Christmas. In previous years, supermarket employees were walking around with reindeer hats or red hats with bells on it, driving everyone crazy with the tinkle, tinkle, tinkle of numerous bells going off as employees walked by. And supermarket employees would be complaining about their Santa hats giving them headaches. This year, nothing. No reindeer hats. No …
The holidays tend to make us nostalgic, and many people make major decisions based on selective memories when they are feeling mellow, rather than on their true experiences of what really happened. It’s so easy to fall under the holiday spell of peace on earth, good will toward men, that you let the memories of your painful childhood and adulthood fade into the background. It’s at those times that, in a moment of weakness and longing for love and acceptance, …
Thanksgiving has always been a difficult holiday for me. From the time I was a very little girl and only wanted to eat a turkey with feathers . . . to when I became an adult and knew, with absolute conviction, that cooking would never be one of my better skills . . . to becoming an aware adult, that we only think about feeding the poor and homeless at holidays when we can feel magnanimous and spiritual, and seldom …
Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother’s Day, must be spinning in her grave and hating Hallmark for all it stands for. Commercialism. Anna worked tirelessly, by writing letters to newspapers, businessmen, religious leaders, and politicians, to make Mother’s Day a national holiday. She hoped that a son or daughter would honor their mother for all the sacrifices she had made and she used the singular mother’s day rather than the plural. She never intended the day to include all mothers, …