Words & Banter

And Jewish Christmas Carols?

CREDIT: Design by Sawyer Pennington, Underlying photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

The craziness leading up to Christmas is what Red refers to as the “silly season” (which you’d think ends on New Year’s Day, yet it seems to continue into early January), but Black sees it as an opportunity to connect the dots between Christmas carols, Jewish songwriters, Chinese food, the Supreme Court, and the movie “Die Hard.” Making it seem so logical in this month’s column, “RED & BLACK … And Jewish Christmas Carols?

And as we celebrate Christmas (we celebrate Chanukah, but also celebrate Christmas, with one of Red’s favorite stories being when Black met a Jewish Santa), we all have our own traditions – some new, some old. Last year, Red watched one of her favorite movies, “Die Hard,” on Christmas Eve (believe it or not, many people consider it a Christmas movie), and she now plans to watch it every year. And, like many Jews, including Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, we’ll celebrate with Chinese food on Christmas Day.

But no matter how you may celebrate Christmas, we believe the sentimental and classic poem “The Night Before Christmas” says it best,

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
Design by Sawyer Pennington, Underlying photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash


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I have a confession to make, which I’m sure will make you roll your eyes.


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Interesting caveat and probably true.


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Every time we talk with Jackie (Aguilera) from the Mayor’s Office of Adult Literacy and hear what she’s doing in the world of adult education, I feel like I’m back in school and having to take copious notes.


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I am more than happy to send you “homework assignments” as I come across relevant articles and research.
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Photo by michaelmjc on iStock

Is it a way to meet people, share memories, or help the environment? Or is it about bargain hunting? As we've talked about before, garage sales can be about so much more than just getting rid of things you no longer want



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Thanks for the accounting of your garage sale. But, given how many hours you spent preparing for it, and then the actual sale itself, did you calculate how much you “earned” on a $/hour basis?


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No, all I know is that it seemed to take forever to go through everything in Mom’s house and decide what to keep, what to sell, what to donate. And what to trash. As far as the garage sale, I’ll give you your half the next time I see you.


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Keep my half. You did all the work. I did not even offer to help.


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And that was a big help. Thank you.
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Design by Sawyer Pennington, Underlying photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Remember summer reruns on TV? Well, this month’s column is a first … it’s a “rerun” of our July 2020 column, except we added the word “CRITICAL” in the title. Because, four years later, we feel it’s very sad (and scary) that our sentiments about our country’s leaders having the strength, courage, and conviction to be independent thinkers are still relevant (maybe even more than before). So, the Fourth of July may be behind us, but Election Day will be here before you know it.



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I keep forgetting to ask you, since Sawyer is away at camp, what did you do for July 4th?



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Well, it was a very different Fourth of July. No kids. No barbeque. No fireworks.


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I know most of the fireworks were cancelled, but is your barbeque grill broken?


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No, this year I decided to declare my "independence" from doing a big holiday grocery shop, major prep work, and cooking outdoors in Texas heat.


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I wish there were more people willing to declare their independence.



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Somehow I don't think you're talking about me making an easy pasta dish in the comfort of my air-conditioned house vs. standing over a hot barbeque on a hot day.
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