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New Year’s Eve traditions around the world

Years ago I thought it was necessary to welcome the new year with a celebration of some sort. At the very least, I thought one should stay up until midnight to usher in the new year. During my high school years a classmate hosted a New Years’ Eve party at her home. We were country kids — no booze, no hanky panky — but we had a good time and stayed up late enough to wish each other a Happy New Year. Fifty years ago this month a New Year’s Eve party tradition began that lives on today. Nowadays, however, the remnants of the original party group plan to get together at noon on a ...

Blessings

“When I'm worried and I can't sleep I count my blessings instead of sheep, and I fall asleep counting my blessings.” I love that song. You probably know it. Written by Irving Berlin and sung by Bing Crosby in the movie “White Christmas,” it’s a mellow reminder that things could be worse. The movie, out right about the time I was born, was more famously timed to recall the recently-ended Second World War, during which so much was lost. Every year at this time, this song starts up in my head. “When my bankroll is getting small I think of when I had none at all, ...

Why should kids have all the fun?

Teenagers have a lot of fun. Several photos of our church’s middle school and high school youth groups having a good time at their respective Christmas parties were posted on the church’s Facebook page recently. I felt a twinge of envy. It’s been a long, long time since I was involved in a church youth group. When I was, we didn’t have as much fun as these kids were having. Now, I’m not whining here. My family’s church was small and there weren’t many of us teenagers. The age range was stretched a bit to create a group large enough to meet regularly and when we did it ...

Safety Patrol duty and a traffic violator

While far short of qualifying for Mensa, I was gifted with a good memory. So it is that I can distinctly remember something that happened nearly 64 years ago. My father took a job with the grain elevator in Sibley, Iowa, and we moved there in February 1960. As it turned out, Dad’s job didn’t work out and six weeks later we moved back to Hamilton County in north central Iowa. Sibley is a nice county seat town of nearly 3,000 in far northwest Iowa. The community is located just seven miles south of the Minnesota state line. I remember Sibley positively for several reasons: I had ...

Without this community’s support, there will be no Sandi’s Attic

When the fire started, Sandi Davis shoved Emerald into a cardboard box and fled her downtown store. Then she watched as firefighters fought the blaze in the building to the west of her place, Sandi’s Attic. On Tuesday, she sorted through what was left of her retail consignment shop. ...

Is it Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?

Every year about this time we begin hearing complaints from whose who believe their right to wish others a Merry Christmas has been taken away. Or they complain that someone wished them “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” As a follower of Jesus who sincerely believes Jesus is the reason for the season I want to quote Archie Bunker and say, “Stifle yourself!” I will soon be 76 years old and I’ve been wishing folks “Merry Christmas” for most of those years. In all those years I’ve never had someone complain when I wished them “Merry Christmas.” When ...