"It's nothing like you. You say your parents have known forever." "He has to know someday, Dan. It's been two years. It's for Christmas." "That's exactly it, Zack. It's Christmas. All those family traditions and memories. My mother died at Christmas time. My dad isn't that well. He's got high blood pressure. Christmas just isn't . . . no, please don't pull...
I first met James at a Christmas party my parents were throwing. He was the contractor they had hired to put together the new house they were building as an anniversary gift to each other. It would be a lot bigger than the two stories, three-bedroom house I had grown up in, which meant that there would be plenty of room for either me or my sister if we neede...
Oh, great. Now, on top of everything else, the power had gone out. The snow was piling up—it was still snowing—I was all alone on Christmas Eve, and the power was off. I'd had an appointment at an old, rich guy's house and now that wasn't going to happen—not because the power went off but because the snow was drifting and I wasn't about to be out driving in...
I assumed that Christmas of 1977 was going to be a bust for me anyway, so when the Bangkok office chief asked for a volunteer to go on temporary duty—TDY—to Tokyo over the Christmas and New Year's holiday to cover for the leaves of the bureau chief and deputy there, I said, "Why not?" My family was flying back to the States for December because my wife insis...
You've been after me all evening to open your Christmas gift to me as soon as the others had left—and this after you'd pestered me about what I wanted for Christmas even after I'd given you that flippant answer. It had just been an expression, something to stave you off after you'd put me off that last time and then wouldn't accept that I didn't need anythin...
Chestnut Falls 1952 It was a beautiful, frosty Christmas Eve as Mark Matheson stood at the bathroom mirror, neatly combing his hair. Always the early bird, he had already dressed and readied himself for the Christmas Eve church service while the rest of the Matheson's scurried around with their last minute holiday preparations. From the kitchen, Mrs. Mathe...
I met Wade in a church, of all places. Not that either one of us is religious, and neither one of us was attending a church service there. It was the cathedral in Cologne, Germany. I was bumming around Europe during the summer between university and grad school—I was studying art photography at MICA, the Maryland Institute College of Art, in Baltimore—and Wa...
Chapter Thirteen -- Home for the Holidays "Hey cookie baby! I'll be up on December 9th to pick ya' up and bring you back to Brockville for Christmas break. Your Dad told me to use his car and make sure the trunk was empty for the fifteen pillow cases of laundry your Mom is expectin' to bring back with ya'! Hah, hah, hah!" "Why isn't he coming up, Sasq?" "...
What Paul needed was to get right back on the wagon, Terrence had said. "You can only be in mourning so long," Perry chimed in. "Mingle, mingle, mingle," Terrence added. "That's how you shoo the blues away." Paul's friends had managed to lure him out to an ocean-side café in Santa Barbara, the first time he'd been out in public since the funeral. He hadn't...
Moodily I stared out the train window. The day before Christmas Eve. On the platform of the Boston station, couples reunited, kissing and hugging. Mothers cried and clung to fresh boys in uniform as they headed off to basic training. The war had changed things; the place was somber and not decorated much for Christmas this year. The mood was grim and filled...