Christmas Tree I

I cheated a bit as we got the tree yesterday, but since yesterday might also be the only time all week we see the sun and some blue sky I decided to start a Christmas tree series today. Here is the tree on top of John's car. I think it might have been a bit more seasonal on top of my car, which is red, but we weren't thinking of photo opportunities when we set out. It took us 23 minutes from door to door to choose the tree and bring it home.

 I think the only time we have ever made a faster choice was when Dana and Jim lived in Chicago and Dana was three weeks overdue with Will. We thought getting a tree would cheer everybody up, but the wind out of Canada was blowing across the plains and it was bitterly cold and starting to snow. Will was born two days later on December 17th. John flew out two days later to meet his new grandson. Not at all the way we had planned it, but quite a memorable Christmas for everybody....

John came back to class this morning where he is in good company with two other men, and we all went out to coffee afterward. Bob regaled us with tales of growing up Jewish in Baltimore, also Nancy Pelosi's hometown, and Larry told us about being told he was Jewish when he was 19. I asked why they waited so long to tell him and the answer revealed both a very complicated family and a very different time and place. That led to a discussion of how important family stories are and how much of our family histories we don't know....

As I frequently say, everybody has a story. 

Speaking of families, and stories, I just finished reading Say Nothing, a meticulously researched story of the Troubles in Ireland by New Yorker writer Patrick Radden Keefe. 

It certainly explains why the 'Irish question' on Brexit is, or at least should be of great concern....