he challenges I face each December can be summed up in two words: heathen problems. While I was raised a Catholic, I chose long ago to follow a different spiritual path. My adopted faith is called Asatru, which means “true to the Aesir gods,” and it’s a modern reconstruction of the ancient pagan faith of
makes me sad to hear people say they hate Christmas music. Personally, I love the songs of this season … but there’s always an asterisk, isn’t there? Christmas music, much like the holiday itself, features two very different, and sometimes competing, influences: “Ho Ho Ho” joviality, and the nativity of Christ. It’s sufficed to say
can’t believe I’m actually going to admit this but (whispering) I really like watching Hallmark Channel Christmas movies. You know the ones I’m talking about – single mom loses job, car breaks down in tiny town, she gets a waitress job at the local diner and falls in love with a local cop; the whole
hen I stand in line at the grocery store at this time of year, I stare in awe at various magazine covers. Special holiday editions of “Stepford Wife Home & Garden,” etc. can really do a number on my psyche. My mind instantly goes into comparison mode: “I don’t have an entire set of Christmas-themed
this time of year, people ask me what my favorite Christmas movie is, and I offer the same answer I’ve given since I was 16 or so: It’s a Wonderful Life, the Frank Capra-directed 1946 fable about a man who wonders one Christmas Eve what life would’ve been like if he hadn’t been born. In
he legend of Santa Claus can be traced back to a 4th-century bishop named Nicholas, who was known for his kindness and gift-giving. Born sometime around 280 AD in modern-day Turkey, Nicholas was the son of wealthy parents. When they died and left him an orphan, he used that wealth to bless the poor. Many
Souvenirs. Tourists spend oodles of time and money in gift shops, wine shops, pottery studios and local artisan jewelers’ shops to find the right thing to serve as their tangible memory of a place. On our last trip to southern Italy, it wasn’t something that we bought there, but instead something we had delivered to
It’s that time again: Thanksgiving is just around the corner with Christmas right on its heels. Like hardworking squirrels storing away nuts for the future, I find handling Christmas expenditures is best if planned for in advance and not looked at as an unexpected expense; after all, it comes every year. The American Research Group
Twenty-five years ago this fall, as a scribe for The Flint Journal, I was immersed in the unlikely rise of Michael Moore’s documentary about Flint, Roger & Me, to national prominence. The film made for great copy, especially as our readers were so polarized over it. (Much of their hatred for Moore seemed to subside
The Bavarian Inn’s glockenspiel clock tower is as renowned as its world-famous chicken dinners … and for good reason! For nearly 50 years and counting, the charming landmark known as the glockenspiel has delighted generations of Frankenmuth visitors. The word is German for “singing bells,” a fitting description for the 50-foot structure that stands
If you read my column with any regularity, you know that I love to cook, and November is the month when I get to prepare my most favorite meal: Thanksgiving dinner. Like most folks, I cook a traditional turkey dinner, but what makes it special to me is that each dish I serve is a
While I have much love for Flint, I sometimes feel as though I grew up in Frankenmuth … As the destination for many a Ribner family outing, Michigan’s Little Bavaria played a big role in my childhood. My brother and I would become filled with excitement each time the family car turned north onto M-83
