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Christmas shopping has changed since ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’

In “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” the best TV show of all time, Charlie is frustrated in his effort to find the true meaning of Christmas. Spoiler alert. In the end he does. But before then, Lucy tells him, “Look Charlie, let’s face it. We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket.” In a hushed voice she says, “It’s run by a big Eastern syndicate, you know.” Lucy didn’t even know about Amazon. Regardless, the gifts borne by the three kings at the first Christmas started something. Gift giving remains part of how we celebrate Jesus’ humble birth. I ...

Christmastime is here

My wife and I recently took in our local parade of lights followed later that evening by watching a televised broadcast of “Rudolf The Red-Nosed Reindeer.” This means that it is now officially Christmastime. We had fortunate weather for the parade, with light winds and temperatures in the mid-30s. Just a few days earlier the mercury had plummeted to the single digits with a howling wind that drove the windchill to well below zero. Better to be lucky than to be good. Scores of kids turned out to watch the parade from the curb, calling out to Santa as he floated by on a float. ...

Healthy holidays are happy holidays

The time for joyous celebration is now upon us. If you’re like me, you want to enjoy all the goodness of this season with family and friends. Yet you don’t want to feel regretful for having over-indulged with excess pounds gained, the misery of indigestion or getting off track if you have a condition like diabetes. We asked our health coaches and dietitians for tips to help you navigate this holiday season. Apply the 80/20 rule. This means you eat well 80% of the time and allow yourself a margin of 20% for enjoying special dinners and events. In other words, don’t go “full ...

The endless winter

We had a fabulous autumn weather-wise, nothing to complain about although that didn’t prevent many of us from doing so. First it was too warm and too dry; then, when it started to rain, it was too cold and too wet. There’s no pleasing some people. In our neck of the woods, every snow-free day in November is a bonus. We were in the fourth week of the month before we saw our first flakes and they only amounted to an annoying dusting. This was a generous bonus indeed. If you live in my area long enough, you’re going to experience a winter that comes early and stays late. So late ...

Election revealed the real Gov. Walz

It wasn’t just Kamala Harris and Tim Walz who lost something several weeks ago. It was Minnesota, too. By facing the higher level of scrutiny in a national campaign, Tim Walz was revealed as a collectivist governor with a poor record of competency. Suddenly, the country and many Minnesotans discovered how and why our state is governed so differently from all Midwestern states. First, the governor literally leaped on stage, presenting a strange clown-like persona with a Tibetan monk bow and a “joyful” leg kick. Being called weird by Tim Walz was like being called ugly by a ...

Breaking out in song

Last Sunday, I met daughter Anna in Minneapolis where we attended Les Misérables at the Orpheum Theater. This is about my tenth time seeing Les Misérables. It is somewhere between a guilty pleasure and an addiction. I’ve always liked musicals, in person and on stage. Film is not at all the same experience. The energy and intensity of real live human beings throwing themselves into their part, I love that. For three hours, I can be in a world that’s quite different from mine on the farm. Every musical has scenes where heightened emotions come through in song. Les Mis is a ...