Month: January 2017 (Page 2 of 2)

When I was growing up, my mom would give my brother and me a few little gifts to unwrap on January 6th which she called Small Christmas.  We had a special dinner and some treats and we never took the tree down until after that day.

Some call it Three Kings’ Day because they say it is the day the three wise men finally met baby Jesus and brought him gifts to welcome him to the world.  It took them until January 6th to follow that star and find what they were looking for. Continue reading

Nineteen years ago, on January 4th, 1998, a massive ice storm hit Canada and the United States. Many large cities were shut down for a week.  At a standstill.  At the time I was a rookie writer working at an advertising agency and one of my assignments was writing a company newsletter for a national chain of hotels.  I remember all the stories pouring in about properties and employees taking in people who were stranded and everyday folks helping each other out.  It’s funny how much we take for granted when we have electricity, water and safe roads to travel through our day.  When it all goes dark, we are lost and must depend on help from others. Continue reading

I broke into 2017 with the stomach flu.  A symbolic message that the year has nowhere to go but up. It actually reminded me to be grateful because once it had passed, I remembered that when you have your health, you have everything.

While resting up after the illness on New Year’s Day, I was watching Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday and I saw a woman who I hadn’t seen before.  She was songwriter Carole Bayer Sager.  I soon realized that she wrote some of the biggest hits of all time including That’s What Friends Are For, The Prayer (sung by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli), The Spy Who Loved Me (from the Bond movie), A Groovy Kind of Love, and the theme from Arthur (Best That You Can Do… one of the lines is, “If you get caught between the moon and New York City”).  I actually chose two of those songs to be played at my wedding. Continue reading