My sister, Winnie, was asking about our holiday traditions. It gave me some pause. I guess the things we consider traditions on Cullom are things we just naturally do, but particularly at this time of the year. There aren't any Advent calendars here.

For many years we had a dinner at the Berghoff. After it closed to the public, we did some dinners in the house. But these always seemed to be forced events. We've had some great dinners this year, unplanned but great feasts.

What I think we did that was different, though, was readings. This year we read Damon Runyon's “Little Miss Marker.” Jane said it was turned into a movie starring Shirley Temple. I seem to remember that too.

In previous holidays we've read from James Joyce Dubliners, “The Dead” is a great holiday piece with a lot of depth, as you'd expect from Joyce. The Dickens novel “A Christmas Carol” was popular around here for many years. It is also a time of the year when people have a lot of time off. We've done film marathons around the house.


Jane loves the hockey movies, “Youngblood,” “Slap Shot,” “Mystery, Alaska.” So we did that a few years ago. We added several movies to that group, “The Rocket,” “Slap Shot 3,” this year and “The Chiefs” last year.



Looking through this hockey stuff, it appears the only movie we don't have is Strange Brew. Gift idea?

Myself, I've always enjoyed adventure. Michael Pallin has done a number of series including “Around the World,” “Pole to Pole,” "Full Circle" and his new series on the Europe. These were great to watch over the holidays that included some time in the hospital.

There are more of his adventures on line, too, that we haven't seen. This much better stuff than Rick Steves. And, of course, dropping another hint for a gift idea.

There was also the great Michael Apted “Up” series. When the new Up is released, we bring ourselves up to speed on the various members of our generation who we've followed. And, then we discuss whether we are most like Tony or Susan...

As I think about it more, there was also the "Father Ted" year. I'm sure Jane and Ceili will remember other things we watched or read too.
This season Jane and I purchased the “Irish R.M.” series. We've finished about half the series already. If you're not familiar with it, it is the story of the final years of the Hiberno-English Aristocracy, before the first World War ended that style of life.

In any case, this goes all the way back through my marriage with Anna. Between reading to each other and settling in for a winter night to catch up on our films, we've managed to fill many long winters through the years.