Taking The Long Way Home

Nobody looks forward to funerals. I actively avoid them for the most part, and can come up with all sorts of excuses and justifications for not attending. Since we live in a pretty out of the way place, travel from Taos is inconvenient, inefficient, and expensive. I usually choose to go to the parties rather than the funerals. But in the case of Noel Cunningham's death, something told me that Rick and I both needed to go to Denver for the funeral. I knew the Noel was an amazingly generous man who worked tirelessly in his restaurant, Strings , and more importantly in his many philanthropic projects. He was a great talker, but he also put his words into action. And he could talk anyone into lending a hand, usually by sitting them down for a wonderful meal, and then spelling out exactly what he wanted. Rick and I came to know Noel and his wife Tammy through the Hope Bracelet Project , which was started by the Cunningham Foundation , in support of Project Mercy , in Ethiopia. When...

Christmas has gotten tricky, hasn't it? It isn't what it  used  to be. It is what it  is . So I wonder what makes so many of us long for what is  was , missing the magic that's available in this particular Holiday Now.  To be clear, I'm using "Christmas" kind of generically here, because it's what  I  had as a kid, and what I still have, although in a completely different way. Of course I realize there are loads of other winter holidays to be observed. I'm not counting those out. I'm just speaking my own language.  We all have our childhood Christmas memories, good or bad. Mine happen to be good. Really good. Mom was a master at Creating the Magic, from the silly music, to the candy pink tree, to the home made cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning. Santa always filled the entire living room with gifts for my sisters and me. It was a wonderful, magical superabundance that  still  makes me happy. That's some powerful magic, to last all th...