Billy B. was working overtime for Neva J. to produce the finest Thanksgiving Celebration that had ever been experienced. Neva J. had decided to pull out all of the stops for Thanksgiving 1963. JFK had been assassinated just a few days prior…and the nation was in mourning… Neva J. had loved JFK. She had been convinced that all of the hopes and prayers of the United States were wrapped up in the personage of President Kennedy. There was a framed photo of the President in the living room and he was held in reverence. Neva J. had wept for the past several days. The assassination of her President had been as chilling as the loss of a close family member. In point of fact…it had been more earth-shaking than the loss of any family member that she had experienced…thus far… Thus her determination to have a memorable Thanksgiving was redoubled. Billy B.’s dad was a goose hunter. He had gone out early morning of the holiday and bagged three prime geese. After skinning them and preparing for roasting…Neva J. placed one in her gas oven…before daylight.

Chet and Thelma were on their way to the Bump home. Neva J. had invited them for Thanksgiving due to Chet’s dad, Carol, having passed away just six weeks earlier. Also coming to dinner were Abigail, who had been called ‘One-Eye’, and Rosie…who had purchased a new Moo Moo for the Holiday. The dining room table was groaning under the weight of the ‘Three Geese’ and the plum pudding and oyster dressing…and German’s Chocolate Cake and Neva J.’s special Coffee Cake. Everyone’s thoughts were on the terrible death of their President…and what lay in store for them and their Country.

President Johnson was on the television wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and assuring them that he was at the helm of the ship of state and that he would steer them into calm waters. They wondered if he had the ability to do so? Lady Bird sat beside him…smiling a practiced smile…whoever heard of a First Lady named…Lady Bird…

So Billy B. and those assembled joined their hands in unity as Neva J. offered Grace. She thanked the Lord for their many blessings and the food that they were about to eat. She said that none of them understood the senseless assassination of their beloved President…JFK…and that they wished that they could roll back time…just a few days…in order to warn him and his lovely wife Jackie of what tragedy was lurking around the corner for them. She acknowledged that miracles happened every day and why couldn’t they have a Thanksgiving Miracle?

Chet asked if someone could pass him the Plum Pudding and a plate of roast goose. Uncle Bill and Uncle Ed and Junior…were enjoying Grand Marnier…a Holiday Favorite in the Bump home. Aunt Wanda announced that she had just seen JFK on the TV…carving turkey…

Fall has turned pleasantly warm and accommodating for this Tuesday. It is Aaron’s Birthday. I asked MJ if she remembers what she was doing 40 years ago today…and she responded that her and my experience on that day… were quite different. It was an unusually warm November 16th…much like today. Autumn brings me a Horn Of Plenty…of memories. The other day I was driving through a neighboring town, Carterville, and admiring all of the fall decorations and the posters for the local football team and our wonderful junior college…John A. Logan. I remembered how I similarly felt when I drove the selfsame road…20 years ago. For a moment I bemoaned the fact that I was not only 20 years older…but now I am…old… But…then the wonderful thought occurred to me…I am still in the game of life and I can appreciate the wonderfully decorated road as much as I did so many years ago.

Tomorrow will be the day that we start to enjoy life and stop to smell the roses and take time to feel our connection with our brothers and sisters…and our home…the earth. Tomorrow we will settle our minds and spirits and souls down to a peaceful pleasure of the satisfaction of being a creation of God and all of his bounties that he provides for us. Today is the tomorrow that we planned on yesterday. Each day is special. Each day is a miracle. Each stage of our lives is a special and unique experience that can not be achieved until we are ready for what it has to offer.

A difficult relationship is challenging. Life does not provide easy answers. When we have been wronged by someone…it is hard to forgive and forget…and most likely the forgiving portion may occur…but the forgetting…not so much… As much as I am capable of…I have practiced Practical Christianity…for over 50 years. I receive few revelations…in fact, I do not remember the last one. Jesus does not whisper my next move in my ear. When I arise in the morning…there is no tingle up my spine…but rather an arthritic walk to the restroom… When multiple appealing choices present themselves to me…I have a ‘think…’ for some time…before I settle on the right one for me. I have been the recipient of many criticisms and some praise…and both seemed to me to be a balanced assessment of my humanity.

Peace is an elusive creature. It alights like a dove on our shoulder…and when we look around to welcome it…she has already flown away… We want to love everyone…that is what Christ told us to do…but everyone is not loveable. We desire to care for others…but some eschew our care and concern… We want all to love us…but we are not, ‘Everyone’s Cup Of Tea.’

So…the Holidays are upon us. At times we may smile a smile of courage…while we weep inside.

Yesterday we traveled to Mary Janes for Brunch. Not Mary Jane Brooks Ristorante…but Mary Janes in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. You see…it is the high days of celebration of…Aaron’s Birthday. The food is fabulous and the Old Fashioneds are to ‘Die For.’ Aaron and I prefer the Traditional Old Fashioned with rye whisky…but we have sampled several of their variations…and they are all first-rate. This morning we erected and decorated the Christmas Tree. It is a splendid tree…’Full of Sap…!’ The Christmas Season has begun…and it is not too early for the Brooks.

Aaron shares my affection for scary movies. When I see that a new horror movie is arriving in theatres or on satellite television…I tell him and we make our plans to see the chilling flick. When he and Jonathon were quite young we had cable television installed in our little house in Elkville. The Disney Channel was one of our favorites with Micky Mouse and Goofy and Pluto and Donald Duck. One evening when MJ was gone to a meeting…I noticed that a movie that was for children called, Mr. Boogedy’ was playing and we three Brooks men…decided to watch it. I thought that it was somewhat creepy…and when I looked at Aaron’s eyes…they were as round as saucers. He told me recently that the movie scared him and that he still finds it frightening today…

Thanksgiving is but a few days away. MJ and I have a trip to St. Louis, Missouri this week and another sojourn to the Gateway to the West…next week on the Friday after Thanksgiving. We will tour the Lemp Brewery and have dinner in the Lemp house…both purported to be haunted. Also…we will stay the night…if our courage holds out… So no shopping…unless it is for Casper The Friendly Ghost…

Aaron shares my love of dark stories…also. We enjoy the Scandinavian variety. I took every Speech class that was offered at Eldorado High School. I graduated in 1975. One of the classes that I took had several senior girls…and they liked my speeches. One of them said of me when I was working on a class project with them…that although I seemed quiet until I was giving a speech…’Still Waters Run Deep…’

Like Father Like Son

Neva Jane had been reading Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, and enjoying every minute of the story. Billy B.’s mom read late into the night on a regular basis. She loved books and belonged to the Book of the Month Club. On their bookshelf, there was everything from; The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich to The Sleeping Prophet. The first is about Germany during the time leading up to World War II and the War. The second is about Edgar Cayce…a healer and psychic physician and seer of their future…and past. Neva’s favorite movie was what she called, Scrooge, although her title encompassed several of the popular Christmas Carol flicks. When someone was miserly or did not care about the poor…Neva Jane would name them, Scrooge… Billy B.’s mom was a helper of the poor…and she was far from rich… Two of her best friends were people that had long ago been marginalized in the little town of Eldorado…which as the sign that welcomed people into the City of Gold…said…A Town Full of Friendly People and One Old Sore Head. Rosie was a rotund little lady that favored dresses called Moo Moos. She talked to herself a little and every now and again…she provided an answer. Rosie loved JFK and had framed photos of him hanging in her little house and vinyl records discussing his assassination. She had a boyfriend who she proudly told Neva J., ‘He is all man.’ Billy B. wondered how she knew…or even what did she mean? The other friend was ‘One-Eye,’ which is what the town’s people had named a poor old woman…who indeed had one eye. She wore on her head what was termed in the early 1960s…a Gypsy Scarf…and was said to be a thief.

Chet and Jane were coming over to Billy B.’s house for Christmas Eve and Neva J. had promised them that they would see…Scrooge. Of course, there were movies covering the famous Dickens literary work from the 1930s-1950s. When Billy B. had asked his mom which movie was playing on Christmas Eve on the television…she responded with a sly smile…and a wicked grin… Billy B. was adjusting the rabbit ears on top of their 18 inch TV when he heard a knock at the door. Neva J. said that she would get the door in order for him to get the television ready for the movie on channel 3. In walked Jane and Chet…to London at the time of Charles Dickens. Suddenly they stood outside the home of Bob Cratchit and his loving family…and beside them was Scrooge and the Ghost of Christmas Present…through the window, they could see that Bob and Tim were preparing to attend Christmas Eve Service at their church. The Ghost asked Billy B. if he would like to see the Christmas Eve Service that he would be attending when he was an old man…and Billy B. said that he would.

And…So…they were in there…in the pew at First Presbyterian Church in Carbondale, Illinois. The service was very much as Neva J. had read in A Christmas Carol. It began at 11:00 pm and concluded at midnight. It was lit by candlelight and when the Christmas Hymn was sung, Silent Night, tears came to Billy B.’s eyes. Chet looked into the corner of the beautiful sanctuary and there was Tiny Tim with his one rustic crutch. He was smiling from ear to ear and his dad, Bob Cratchit, was beaming with his cheeks as rosy as two ripe apples. Old Mr. Scrooge was smiling and singing at the top of his lungs…as he wept when he saw Tiny Tim…and witnessed his faith in his fellow man…and in God…

As they exited the stone church with the bell tower…Billy B. wondered how he would end up in Carbondale…when a 6 foot and 3 and 1/2 inches man passed him…and stopped and winked…

Jane said that she wished they had time to eat a Christmas Meal with Bob Cratchitt and Tiny Tim and family…once Mr. Scrooge had been visited by the three Ghosts. She would have thoroughly enjoyed witnessing the joy of the family after Scrooge became their benefactor. And…Thus…they walked into the front door of the Cratchit home…to a feast of Roast Goose and plum pudding and Punch…as much as you could drink…and meat pies…by the score… In came Tiny Tim…but he was no longer tiny…he danced an Irish Reel across the living room floor and when he reached the dining room table which was groaning with Christmas food and drink… his dad joined him in a dance of gratitude and joy and peace and hope…

Whoo said Chet when he looked up from the Christmas Feast at the Cratchit’s…to find that he was in front of the Bump’s television…and Scrooge was over. ‘Who wants Punch, said Neva J.? In walked Rosie and One-Eye…and they were bearing gifts for all… One-eye… whose name was Abigail…told of Christmas in her country…that she called the Old Country. She told of escaping the Nazis and that she had spent a year in Auschwitz Concentration Camp…where she had lost her eye by being struck so hard on her face that her eye had to be removed. She went on to say that at one time she had been very social and she and her husband had been professors at University…but that since she had been in the United States…she had never felt so welcome as she did at her friend’s home. Abigail said that her most precious Christmas gift was…Neva J.

Rosie told of being abused by her husband when she was young. She had Attention Disorder and had suffered from Depression since the abuse. She went on to say that she loved people but that she could only take them in small doses…and then required some significant solitary time…in order to re-charge her batteries. Rosie said, ‘No one has ever been as nice to me as Neva Jane.’ She went on to say, ‘I do not know if Santa Claus is real…but I know that Neva J. is…

Dampness and chill and wind are the traveler’s companions in Little Egypt…today. Chancellor Lane called a halt to classes today on the Campus of Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale. Four of our precious students have lost their lives in the past few weeks. The Chancellor called for a Saluki Care Day that will focus on self-care.

‘SIUC student Jacob Jurinek was 20-year-old junior studying journalism at the university. The Naperville, Illinois, native and his childhood friend, 21-year-old Franco Patino, were among eight people killed because of a crowd surge at the Travis Scott concert in Houston.’ Jacob is the most recent of the four students who tragically lost their lives. I considered today as I moved about Campus…that we are among the Hallows…the holy…and often do not realize it. When Freshman Keeshanna Jackson was shot and killed at an off Campus party…there was a memorial erected for her on Old Campus. I stopped and thought about the young person who had needlessly and unexplainably passed…at the Opening Curtain of Her Life… I saw a photo of her…just a few days before her untimely passing. She was on Campus and looked overjoyed to be there and to be a Saluki…

Many days we are tired or bored or disgruntle or dissatisfied. We fail to see the forest for the trees…we have our heads buried in our thoughts and are oblivious to…the holy…the hallows surrounding us at every turn in the road of life…

Tomorrow we will tear down our barns and build bigger ones… Tomorrow we will call our friends to check up on them… Tomorrow we will chill…and be happy…

Angels surround us…they are on our right side and our left…they walk before us and behind us…they shake their heads when they see us react obtusely to the life events that we encounter…

Fall has now produced its luxurious ‘Leaf Carpets’ for those who dwell in Little Egypt. As I walked the Campus of SIUC this morning I could not hope but notice the strong wind was removing the leaves at a more rapid rate than I had observed previously…this season. F. Scott Fitzgerald said, ‘Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall.’ I heartily agree! I knew that it was Veterans Day and I thought that I would walk over to the flagpole and see if I could catch some of the Vigil that the ROTC conducts for 24 hours each Veterans Day. As I approached I saw a young woman walking up to the two soldiers who were standing with their heads bowed…in a silent vigil of reverence for all of our Veterans…both living and dead. She appeared to be speaking to the soldiers…of course, they did not answer…but I imagined that she was expressing her respect to them and for what they were doing…and for what they represented. When I approached the Vigil I expected to be impressed with the homage that the soldiers were performing…but I was overtaken by tears as I saw their bowed heads and dignified observance for their fellow soldiers. I saw how young that they were…and yet how mature and supporting of the great weight of responsibility that they had been asked to perform. These members of our military we’re about one thing…duty…respect…and honor. I hearkened back to my high school years and remember so many of my classmates who served in the military and in Vietnam. I thought of the row upon row of headstones that MJ and I and Aunt Lauretta and, one time before his passing, Uncle Merle…had walked through at Fort Bliss in El Paso Texas. I remembered the perfectly aligned white rows of grave markers in Tunis, Tunisia…and our tour guide…weeping…when he recounted how the United States had saved his country and his love for us…

Women and men…girls and boys…much younger than our sons…lay in those fields of honor…they understood what supreme sacrifice that they had been asked to give… War is not like the movies. It is hideous and destructive of both mind and body. When I was a child I wondered how that there could be so many opportunities for me and…so we were told…anyone who would apply themselves in our great Country…and yet my friends…my cousin…and thousands of others…were drafted to fight in Vietnam…and many died…and so life I soon learned…is unfair…

We are the recipients of others’ losses… We are comfortable and enjoy peace and tranquility…on the backs of untold masses of humanity…women and men…who had the same dreams and hopes and excitement regarding their lives…as we did. In the Marathon of Life…they were cut down…just as they left the starting gate…

‘In Flanders Fields, the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders Fields.

Take up your quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw the torch; failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high, If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders Fields.’

I stood and watched, with tears in my eyes, our ROTC students stand vigil at our American Flag. The dedicated soldiers stood at attention with their heads bowed reverently. The gusty wind blew leaves all around them. Old Glory waved proudly in the wind.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, ‘We have nothing to fear…but fear itself.’ He made this statement during one of the most frightening times in our history.

For many years now we have sat at home by the comfort of our fireside and had others do our fighting and dying for us. More than one generation has lost touch with the ultimate sacrifice of ensuring Freedom with their minds and bodies. Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome is rampant in our Veteran Community.

History has shown us that the day will come again when all of us will feel the scourage of war and the terrible price that it inflicts on each participant. All the more reason that we should honor our precious Veterans…each and every day…for their sacrifice of service.

Chet missed his dad. Carol, Chet’s dad, had passed away in the night. He had just been to the doctor for a complete physical and had come through with flying colors. He was a bricklayer. His skin turned almost black in the summer from the intense sun that he absorbed as he labored outside under its intense rays. Carol had purchased Chet the Lost In Space Robot suit for Halloween. Each time that Chet would portray the Robot…Carol would laugh so hard that his sides ached. Thelma, Chet’s mom, worshipped Carol. Whatever he said…was what she believed. When Billy B. came over to play with Chet’s Western Action Figures such as…Johnny West and Chief Cherokee as well as Daniel Boone and Stony the World War II Soldier…they would often speak of having been to town to ‘Do the Trading.’ Billy B. finally learned that ‘Doing the Trading,’ was shopping in Eldorado. So, Carol had passed away a week before Christmas.

Billy B. had grand plans for Christmas 1963! He wanted a Daniel Boone Action Figure…like Chet…and who would not allow him to play with on most occasions. He wanted to meet Santa Claus…personally. Billy B. wanted his mom, Neva Jane, to be happy as she had been so unhappy since she and his dad had divorced. Often he would find his mother crying when he got home from school. She felt that the responsibility for the separation and divorce of her and Jefferson…was her fault… Billy B. knew better and wanted desperately to convince his mom that they must move on and rebuild their lives and enjoy each day. A group of the third graders was going to meet in the woods and decorate a pine tree with Christmas lights. This had been discussed since Halloween. Jane would join them as well as Sally and Daryl and as customary…Daryl’s father…the Third Grade Teacher…who liked to be called The Wiz…

Jane was especially looking forward to the evening decoration of the Christmas Pine Tree. She had told Billy B. that she had been sad since Halloween. Jane mentioned that the joys of October did not seem to be staying with her in December. She said that although there was a six-foot Aluminum Christmas Tree in their living room at her home…she felt empty and disengaged from the joys of the Holiday Season. She said that although her family dutifully gathered for Christmas…they did not seem happy or energized by the family time together. Her uncle Ebenezer and her dad were on different sides of the political spectrum and agreed on little in politics…and mostly argued their political points until late in the evening. Uncle Jack Daniels did not seem to help. Her sister cried a lot about her lost boyfriend, Jacob, and her friends seemed consumed with ephemera.

Santa Claus…real or not? Billy B. always believed that Santa was real…Chet did as well. Some members of their class…had their doubts. Buddy had told them that his aunts, Wanda and Vema, had said with a laugh and a wink that there was no Santa and that there was no Easter Bunny…either. Jane said that her dad, which she loved completely, told her that she should believe in Santa…as long as she wanted to. Daryl said that his dad had told him that he had met Santa and that Santa Claus was his personal friend…and that he would bring him to the decorating of the Pine Christmas Tree…tonight.

So, the time had arrived to participate in the annual decorating of the trees in the woods. This tradition had been ageless…as far as anyone could remember. There seemed to be no beginning to the annual Christmas Pine Tree Decoration. Chet arrived pulling a Little Red Wagon that was full of Christmas Decorations. He had brought his deceased father’s work lights that he had used when he had to lay bricks after dark…and it got dark very early…a week before Christmas. Along came Jane and her beloved father accompanying her…as he was concerned about her being sad…for so long. Billy B. brought the silver dollars that his dad had given him just before he drove off in his Vintage Cadillac…and he never saw him again. His dad had pulled them off of the trunk of the automobile and handed them to Billy B….as a form of a permanent goodbye. The Wiz announced that he had invited a special guest…and out from behind a humongous pine tree stepped Santa Claus.

Santa winked his eye and stepped forward with a confident gate. He seemed neither in a hurry nor reluctant…but rather a man on a mission. Santa beckoned Jane forward. He told her that she was beloved by Santa and her father and mother…and to be sad… no more….because great things were in store for her. He then motioned for Chet to step forward. ‘Chet,’ he said, ‘Would you like to see your dad again?’ Chet answered, ‘There is nothing that I want more!’ Carol came out from behind a pine tree and grinned and hugged his son. ‘Billy B….do you miss your father?’ Santa inquired? ‘I miss him all the day long,’ said Billy B. ‘Well…he has come to spend Christmas with you,’ said Santa.

That night in the woods in Eldorado…was magical. Santa told the children that he only had special powers during the Christmas Season and that things would return to their natural normal…on January the 1st. He noted that the natural normal…was what they chose it to be…and that the future was up to them…

Chet and Billy B. met at the door of the Third Grade classroom at Hillcrest School in December of 1963. Chet asked Billy B. if he recalled what had happened at the Christmas Pine Tree Decoration…last night? Billy B.said that his dad was staying with him and his mom…through the holidays…and that his father had told him how much that he missed him. Chet mentioned that he must have had a nightmare that his father, Carol, had passed away…as he had breakfast with him…this morning. Jane walked up with a massive smile on her pretty face. She said that she had not been so happy in a long time. She went on to say that her mom and dad were so happy…that it had made her happy…

Santa Claus awoke from a deep North Pole Slumber…the kind that he enjoyed just before…Christmas…

MJ and I were watching a show on Netflix which was a taped live performance of Steve Martin and Martin Short. It was exceedingly funny. We had purchased tickets to see the show live at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri on December 1, 2018…but it was just a few days prior to MJ’s back surgery and she was not able to attend. So we sent Aaron and Jonathon and Dawn and another lovely person to the performance in our place. I have not laughed so much…in a long while. The jokes were so plentiful that it is difficult to remember them all but needless to say it was almost impossible for us to catch our breath from the sustained laughter…

Steve Martin is a proficient and professional banjo player. He has played for fifty years. I noticed the look on his face completely changed when he began to play…the comedy was over…and he was patiently immersed in his musical craft. As I watched him play I thought of how patient a person must be to become good at what they do. It seems that there is nothing that is valuable in life…that does not come to us without daily dedicated work.

I began as a manager in the Building Services department…with fear and trepidation. I simply knew that I had a high percentage chance of failing at what I perceived was a job that was much too big for my meager abilities. For the first year, I was nauseated each day when I reported for work. But I did not give up. I double my efforts and worked harder and longer and determined that I would immerse myself in every aspect of the large housekeeping department and become as much a master of each…as I had the ability to do so.

Writing has been a primary retirement project for me. I am closing in on 11 years retired…and I treat my writing like my employer is expecting daily production. If I take a day off of my writing…I feel that I have missed my mission…I have neglected my passion…I have failed to patiently apply myself to my chosen retirement craft…

Sadly there seems to be a spirit in our nation today of ‘Live fast and die young…and make a beautiful corpse.’ Or to be more specific there is the misplaced vision that if I can just purchase the right Lottery Ticket…my troubles will be over. I am dismayed that it is difficult to find young people who will not mow grass or wash dishes or work as laborers. I thought that this was a myth…but I am beginning to believe that it is reality. The old saying that, ‘When I was a kid…I walked two miles to school and two miles back home…in four feet of snow…,’ is tiring…but somewhat true. The greatest leaders…have humbly served others. My older colleagues said that you have to pay your dues. When that working spirit is lost…we are in decline as a nation…

Billy B. was excited when he thought of Christmas 1971. He and Chet were freshmen in high school and both wondered if they would be drafted once they graduated in less than four years. Gene, Billy B.’s cousin had been drafted directly after he completed his senior year at Eldorado High School…and Danny, his cousin Brenda’s fiance, had been drafted as well. Chet and Billy B. were not above Holiday adventures and in fact, had planned a Christmas Party with Jane and Sally for that night. It would be a Christmas Eve Party…and they had already sub-contracted Lanny, who had been in some scrapes with the law, to provide the Peppermint Schnaps and Vodka for the festivities. Billy B. had erected a magnificent aluminum Christmas Tree with a multi-colored light strobing on it. Each party participant was to bring a Secret Santa gift. The Party was to be held in the high school auditorium and Lanny…and Daryl had borrowed the 12 foot tall Santa that stood outside the bank on the town square. Twelve foot Santa was extremely difficult to get into the doors of the auditorium and so they had to remove the center post between the doors to facilitate the entry of the giant elf.

And a new one just begun

I hope you have fun

The old and the young

For black and for white (if you want it)