Getting the lights all untangled and the ornaments hung one by one never bothered me. We usually had family gatherings where everyone would take part so you could always hide in the bathroom if it got too intense. My grandmothers (both the Methodist and the Jewish one) would each spend meticulous hours opening the…

By Dom Cioffi  Frank Loesser was thrown out of high school and college — both times for the same reason: he failed almost every subject. Oddly, the one class he excelled in was English, which would prove prophetic as his career trajectory unfolded. Given this track record of failing, Loesser had to be resourceful, especially…

By Rebecca Perkins Hanissiant Of all life’s synergies, I appreciate most the one between my propensity for domestic procrastination and my love of moving through the outdoors — countless adventures are born of it. During a late November weekend, when faced with a day spent winterizing our home, my husband and I instead packed up…

  By Marguerite Jill Dye Extending a helping hand to a neighbor is a longstanding Vermont tradition in an environment with harsh winters, snow and rain storms with increasing potency. That is how our forebears survived. Sharing kindness and passing on blessings is a great way to live our lives. Christian charity is a concept…

By Bree Sarandrea Magical Reindeer, They dance, They prance, They land on your rooftop, With the softest of sounds. Then they leave in an instant, As fast as they had come. On Dasher, On Dancer, On Prancer, On Vixen, On Comet, On Cupid, On Donner, On Blitzen, And lead the way Rudolph, With your bright…

  Too often, the mistake of regurgitating information is the benchmark by which intelligence is determined. The teacher tells you what you need to learn. You sit a test and repeat the information given and you either pass or fail.  It appears we’ve arrived at a point on the timeline where this method of learning…

  By Brooke Geery Killington Resort donated 25 toy wagons stuffed with goodies for Teddy Arbo’s annual Holiday Toy Party earlier this month.     By Brooke Geery Teddy Arbo’s annual Holiday Toy Party is an ever-growing tradition in the Killington community. What started as a dinner party in 1986 where guests were asked to…

   HomeShare Vermont and Woodstock’s Thompson Senior Center have joined forces to bring more Vermonters access to the homesharing model.  “This partnership will open new doors to folks in our area and we can’t wait to make the connections with HomeShare Vermont,” said Deanna Jones, exec. director at The Thompson Senior Center.  With this partnership,…

By Mary Ellen Shaw It’s almost Christmas and as I look back I realize how the holiday is very different in today’s world. When I was a child in the ‘50s, downtown Rutland was bustling with shoppers who had numerous stores from which to select Christmas gifts. The windows were beautifully decorated for the season…

By Merisa Sherman You can see the stars overhead, twinkling against the shimmering clouds in the night sky. There are moments of clear, but this is Vermont. The clouds move about as they will, blocking different constellations throughout the evening. Almost as if by drawing your focus to different moments in the night sky, they…

  For reasons likely buried deep in my DNA, I have always had an acute sense of smell. While my other senses have been ravaged by time, my olfactory awareness has maintained a high-level status. My mother also had a great sniffer, which posed considerable problems for me and my two brothers as she was…

  In winter, river otters head upstream into the uplands, seeking areas of fast-moving water that remain open—at least open enough for an otter to slip into a stream in pursuit of fish. You might catch a brief glimpse of an otter along one of these smaller streams, as I did years ago with my…

  It’s that time of year once again when we think of our dear family and friends. What would life be without special people who touch our souls and warm our hearts? Gift giving in many cultures is an honored tradition. It certainly is in ours. We live in a materialistic, throw-away society where objects…

There are times in life, when in order to get to an ideal destination, you have to traverse through places you’d rather not endure. Life, at times, can seem like a continual cost-benefit analysis. In order to have X, you must compromise on Y. In order to compromise on Y, the desire for X has…

  By Curt Peterson It shouldn’t have snowed, no, it shouldn’t have snowed While nothing is yet where it is meant to be stowed. The mower? Where the pickup should be put away. And the plow guy will say the pickup’s in the way. The splitter? The runabout? They’re misplaced as well. Their intended destination…