Tag Archives: Holidays

The Unlucky Bird

Today is Thanksgiving. Turkeys work all year for this day. Only Groundhog Day is more associated with an animal. Bunnies and reindeer have prominent places at Easter and Christmas, to be sure, but bunnies, reindeer and groundhogs survive their holidays. … Continue reading

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Merry Hallowgivingmas

By October 1st, most stores have their holiday stuff splayed across several aisles where the garden paraphernalia resided for months. A row of Santas, chubby and grinning like Americans in line at the drive thru wait next to snowmen, reindeer, … Continue reading

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What I Got For Christmas: Fire Ants

I have written about fire ants before. But things have changed in the South. Call it global warming. Call it a fire ant invasion. Call it an environmental rash, whatever. I have experienced fire ants up close all of my … Continue reading

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This Year, I Was The Fat Man. Again.

Many years ago when my nephew (now in his early thirties) was a child, I did something so stupid it has attached itself to me like a permanent holiday appendage: I wrangled a Santa suit and scared him so badly, … Continue reading

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The Santa Fight

I can still hear wounded Santa cursing and swinging a red bamboo stick at shadows in the dark. He was an unlikely hero, a bruised saint, a twisted fantasy. He was not what any child expects at Christmas, which means … Continue reading

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Smoked House

During the holidays, Dee Briggs had an idea. “I’m going to go to the grocery store and get a turkey and take it to Extra Billy’s (a local barbecue restaurant). They’ll smoke it. You want me to get you one?” … Continue reading

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Little Girl With The Bloody Lip

{ NOTE: This story is over 40 years late. I referred to it in the previous, “The Invisible Holiday” story. As a child, I had a habit of concocting a story about the people I saw as we traveled. The … Continue reading

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1965: The Invisible Holiday

The backseat window glass of the 1962 Chevrolet Bel Aire was ice cold to the touch and I blew a frosty breath circle that clouded the passing of the Hall Brothers’ Dairy south of Montgomery. The receding amber of sunset … Continue reading

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“Did I Do That?”

I remember when the annual office holiday party was a bit like the aptly-named bar in that grisly-yet wonderfully-bad movie “From dusk til Dawn” – an endless night in a funky, dark room filled with drunks, debaucheries and more than … Continue reading

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No Thanks For This Giving

Back when Lyndon Johnson roamed the earth, we used to have a tradition in my family: No store-bought birds were allowed for the traditional Thanksgiving feast. It was a rule none of us questioned. It was as regular as the … Continue reading

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