2021 – What a Year!

At midnight tonight, we'll start a brand new year - 2022. Some have compared a new year to a book. The book with 365 blank pages - one for each day - and said that the book is ours to write. There is truth to that. As I looked back over my "book" entitled "2021," … Continue reading 2021 – What a Year! →

What the Dickens?

Last night I finished my yearly reading of A Christmas Carol. I have been reading it every year since junior high school. I blogged about that here: https://nostalgicitalian.com/2018/12/03/a-holiday-tradition-since-1982/ As many times as I have read it, I sometimes feel like I read things I don't remember. A few years back I purchased The Annotated Christmas … Continue reading What the Dickens? →

10 More Days …

Spring will officially arrive in 10 days (March 20), but today certainly felt like it was here. We had record temperatures here in Michigan. Our local news station said that we hit 71 degrees today. Sadly, because I worked last night, I slept through it. Granted, it was still nice when I left for work … Continue reading 10 More Days … →

A Novel Idea

One of my favorite places to hang out is the library. Last week, my oldest son asked if we could go there so he could look up some things for a homework project. While he was working on that, I naturally started browsing. I always start in the New Fiction/New Non-Fiction section. By doing this, … Continue reading A Novel Idea →

Holiday “Letters”

Today's blog comes from a Daily Writing Prompt. I thought this was a fun idea. Some of my answers came immediately, while others I had to think a little bit. Here is the prompt: "Make an alphabetized list of the 26 best things about the holiday season, with one item for each letter. Choose your … Continue reading Holiday “Letters” →

Keeping Christmas All The Year

Well, the Christmas presents are now opened. The music books with Christmas Carols are now back up on the shelves and the Christmas music on the radio has abruptly ceased. It is painfully obvious that Christmas is over! I have never understood how these radio stations that go "all Christmas music" LONG before Thanksgiving, can … Continue reading Keeping Christmas All The Year →

A holiday tradition since 1982 …..

"Marley was dead: to begin with" ... so begins the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. It was originally published on December 19, 1843 and the first edition was completely sold out by Christmas Eve (that's less than a week!). This was not Dickens' first Christmas story. As a matter of fact, he had written three … Continue reading A holiday tradition since 1982 ….. →

Let’s Take a Quiz and Thank a Teacher … or two.

The following “quiz” has been published in books and can be found all over the internet. It is attributed to the cartoonist Charles Schulz, who drew Snoopy and Charlie Brown for many years. An inquiry to the Charles Schulz Museum has proven that the quiz is NOT something he said, however, it does make an … Continue reading Let’s Take a Quiz and Thank a Teacher … or two. →