Category Archives: Opinions
Come let us adore Him
The holiday season is called the most wonderful time of the year, but between buying gifts, hosting parties, trying not to break your healthy habits (or the bank) and attending family gatherings, it can also be the most stressful time of the year.
Once again, we are trying to figure out what to give people who already have everything they need. Come to think of it, I’m trying to understand how we went from the wise men bringing gifts to Christ as an act of worship to the ritual of giving gifts to each other? I don’t remember
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The Christmas flower
No Christmas holiday is complete without the poinsettia. Before it was called poinsettia, the bright red plant was called cuetlaxochitl (kut-la-sho-she) by the Aztecs. In Mexico, the poinsettia is a perennial shrub that can grow 10 to 15 feet tall.
The poinsettia has been included in Christmas celebrations in Mexico since the 17th century. The star-shaped leaf pattern is said to 
represent the Star of Bethlehem, and the color red symbolizes the blood of Jesus.
There are many legends about the poinsettia. One tells of a poor Mexican girl, who wanted to place an offering at the altar for the baby Jesus, but she could find no flowers, so she gathered
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Courier Letters to the Editor 12-22-21
Former law enforcement employee weighs in
Dear Editor,
I am writing about the Nov. 18-21 issue. I saw where Christopher Vaughn was charged with 10 counts of second-degree sexual exploitation
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Peace on Earth and goodwill toward all
I was sitting out on the front porch last Wednesday night working on a hip-hop version of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” to amuse my grandchildren with, when a weird outer-space noise came squawking through my phone.
It was my SkyGuide astronomy app alerting me that the International Space Station was about to pass overhead.
I’ve tried to catch a glimpse of it several times before, but it was always too cloudy or there were too many trees in the way.
But this time, it was coming in from the northwest, crossing the Pacific coast of Canada and
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The magic of possibility
Does anybody remember the Sears catalog? It came in the mail every year.
I’m not talking about the Wish Book catalog. That was invented later. I’m talking about the thick catalog that occupied hours of our time 
before Christmas, laid open on the floor as we turned the pages gazing at all the riches that might be ours.
We’d look at the bicycles. I longed for a blue one. Matt wanted a red one.
We looked at pogo sticks and imagined ourselves on them outside, traveling to unknown destinations.
We never looked at clothes. That was not a particular interest to either of us.
I always knew the hand-me-downs from my older cousins would eventually wind up in my You must be logged in to view this content.
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Crisis in the chicken coop
Thanksgiving marks the beginning of eating as a sport. People take delight in chomping, munching, gobbling and gorging. It’s sort of like a hot dog eating contest with no hot dogs.
The holiday eating season begins on Thanksgiving Day and continues right through Christmas and into the Super Bowl.
There is an ugly rumor floating around about a chicken shortage that is threatening one of our most favored cuisines. Just the thought of a shortage of barbecue, buffalo or hot wings is
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Courier Letters to the Editor
Keep the Christ in Christmas
Dear Editor,
It’s that time of the year when most people are more courteous. There’s just something about Christmas!
Some say we shouldn’t celebrate it, however, the angels in heaven were celebrating on the night of His birth, weren’t they? On Earth as in You must be logged in to view this content.
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Celebrating a century of Aunt Eileen
Yesterday, Dec. 7, 2021 — a date which will live not in infamy, but in love in my heart — my dear, sweet Aunt Eileen, who was like a second mother to me and my brother when we were babies, hit the century mark.
Happy 100th birthday, Aunt Eileen!
Her birthday is easy to remember because she was born exactly 20 years before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the date President Franklin D. Roosevelt said would live in infamy.
Yet it is she who always remembers my birthday and sends me a card.
I got lazy and quit sending out Christmas cards a few years ago, and
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The uninvited guests
It was a beautiful December morning. The sun was shining on the horses, who were grazing in the pasture.
I was looking out the kitchen window at the scene when I noticed two dark figures walking through the fallen leaves beneath the oak. It took a moment to realize what I was seeing. There were two large black hogs ambling around the horses, snuffling and rooting through the leaves.
Apparently they were eating acorns, which we have an ample supply of.
I hadn’t seen them before and have no idea where they came from.
At first, I was afraid we had an invasion of wild boars. But a closer look revealed that these
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‘Twas just weeks before Christmas
T’was just weeks before Christmas and all through the town, people hurried and scurried, faces scrunched in a frown.
No dolls or toys for good girls and boys, no holiday deals or red-hot sales ploys.
There are no “steals” or squeals of delight ‘cause the shelves are all empty,
it’s a frightening sight.
The ships are trapped way out in the sea, unable to unload because of COVID, you see.
The supply chain is clogged up just like I-85, and everyone’s hoping that they can survive a
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