There are times in your life when you don’t really understand what you have until it goes away. For me, that was Oglebay’s Festival of Lights. Don’t get me wrong. I always loved when my mom would take me and my sister through the lights in our childhood. Even then, we were wowed by the ...
As the holiday season approaches, I have many fond memories of Hanukkah celebrations from years gone by, and their impact still reverberates in our present observances. There is a suggestion in the Talmud, a fifth-century code of Jewish law, that the Maccabees’ triumph of freedom over ...
For most the holidays are a time for family gatherings, big dinners, watching the snowfall, decorating the Christmas tree, and giving loved ones gifts. I remember my sister and I waking up at 5 a.m., or earlier, and racing down the stairs. Our eyes widened as we were greeted by a large ...
One of my greatest anticipations as a young child was waiting for my dad to pull his post-World War II Lionel model train out of storage and set it up around our Christmas tree. That typically took place the first Saturday of December each year, as my family used that day to get a Christmas ...
Times change, and people change with the times. But to me, the magic of the holidays will always be rooted in childhood memories and traditions that make the season — probably for most people — the most nostalgic time of the year. Traditions that hearken back to childhood memories of family gatherings lay the framework for most of my recollections of the holidays. Maybe a child’s perspective of Christmas or Thanksgiving carries a lot more wonder and fascination with it, and I’m sure that’s what makes it so special. Regardless, I think a key to finding that warm and fuzzy ...
If you asked your children or grandchildren what they received for Christmas last year, would they remember? Would those remote-controlled cars or battery-operated games still be in working order or tossed on a shelf in the basement? I would hope that each Christmas is as memorable for them ...
