Christmas

How I Plan to Have a Cracking Christmas With MS

As an adult, it hasn’t been easy for me to get into the Christmas spirit. Planning festivities and buying gifts don’t come naturally to me. Perhaps it’s because adult life never ends, whereas as a student, I had holiday breaks that signified the beginning of the season, allowing me to…

Feeling Overwhelmed? Wander Under the Stars

If you read my last column, you know that my Thanksgiving was eventful, to say the least. Well, it looks like Christmas is shaping up to be another banger. My father-in-law is back in the hospital, still trying to kick the infections that have knocked him flat recently. We…

Santa Is Not Cominā€™ to Town!

This is the fifth year I’m writing a Christmastime missive about how my MS journey as Santa is going since the disease mortally attacked my immune system. The trouble was that it took doctors ages to work out my diagnosis. Being Santa Claus, no MRI machine…

Santa Claus Is Still Cominā€™ to Town

Santa refuses to use email! At least letter-sending is a thousand years older than he is! (Via Shutterstock) Well, 2020 was a weird year for everybody. It was even weird for magical creatures, as these days, an awful lot of people believe they exist! It’s tough now to hide.

Do They Know It’s Not Christmas?

Quarantine sure feels like Christmas. The shops are stripped bare. The streets are empty. Family homes are stuffed with everyone returning home. In our case, my wife rescued my youngest son from his cool digs near Hammersmith in West London on Monday, just in time. The prime minister announced a…

Living with Intention This Christmas

Ever since I can remember, my family has had a real Christmas tree. Finding the perfect tree became a magical adventure. We often cut our own, but as I grew older, we would choose one from a local lot. My mom would play traditional Christmas songs while…

Ho-Ho-No

Even when a major holiday isnā€™t scheduled in a calendar month, Iā€™m a pretty busy lady. I work a full-time job that requires me to be present and ā€œonā€ most of every day. I also have to deal with Atlanta traffic, which is physically and mentally exhausting. Iā€™m a…

A Quiet Week

I could be in a fancy restaurant in central London rather than sitting at home writing this. Don’t feel sorry for me, I chose to stay in. The Christmas month ofĀ DecemberĀ is very hard. Extreme partying is allied with extreme levels of work. In my game,Ā they are as…

My Holiday Gift Wish

Itā€™s that time of year when everyone is asking: What would you like for Christmas? Shopping for the perfect gift for me is a challenge because Iā€™ve been around long enough to have most of the things I want or need. In fact, we have so much that at…

The Greatest Gifts

Christmas is just around the corner, and thatā€™s why many people are on the fruitless quest for Fingerlings or hocking an organ to buy the new iPhone. Both might be the ā€œhotā€ presents of the season, but neither of them holds a candle to the great gifts we…