The Pork Boys Do Christmas, 2025

 At long last, M.P. has finally figured out how to send pics from his smart phone to my email address.  

As I mentioned the other day, this Christmas has been quieter and much less hectic than usual, without a houseful of M.P.'s family to feed.  So we have done less and done it when we felt like doing it.  We had a little Christmas buffet for just us two last Friday night in front of the Christmas tree - I'll try to add a pic of that here - with a tasty array of hors d'oeuvres, including homemade liver pâté, a creamy homemade cheese ball, some pigs-in-a-blanket, with honey-mustard and barbecue sauces on the side, and more cheeses, assorted crackers, homemade shortbread oookies, and brownies with chocolate-mint icing.   And some mulled wine to wash it all down.  All quite scrumptious, believe me when I tell you!

We had our Chistmas dinner on Sunday, the 28th, and oh was it good.  It began with our traditional Cream of Green soup (green beans pureed with green onions and parsley in a cream sauce) - it's much more delicious than you might think.  Next, M.P.'s famous Red Cajun Duck stuffed with jambalaya was the star of the show, as seen below, accompanied by braised baby carrots and pearl onions, fried turnip slices, and crescent rolls.  Alas, not until we had finished dinner did M.P. realize he had fogotten to set out the deviled eggs and Green Fluff!  The latter being pistachio pudding mixed with Kool Whip and mini-marshmallows.  It was all good, though, and we had it again last night, and will have it again tonight.  No problem!

Wish I could hand all my truckbuddies a plate.  Hope your Christmas fare was good, too.

Click to enlarge.

For desssert, we had what has become our favorite holiday tradition:  chocolate mousse cake topped with real whipped cream and cooked reaspberry sauce.  I'm afraid this picture, taken in a hurry at the end of our meal, looks rather pathetic.  But I assure you, it does not taste pathetic!  It's really a most delightful thing.  The portion size is small because it's so rich and filling.

We have plans afoot for our New Year's Dinner on Thursday, so check back later in the week for more pics. 

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The King's Christmas Broadcast, 2025

From Westminster Abbey, His Majesty the King delivers his annual Christmas message to his peoples in Britain and throughout the Commmonwealth.  The King is a deeply spiritual man, befitting his role as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, not to mention his historic title, Defender of the Faith.

Bonus:  The Princess of Wales and Princess Charlotte, age 10, perform a piano duet that was filmed for the annual service of carols at Westminster Abbey, which took place on December 5th and was broadcast in the UK on Christmas Eve.  The composure of the young princess is most impressive.

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Merry Christmas to All 2025

The Lessons Appointed for Use on the Feast of

Christmas Day

Madonna and Child by Il Sassoferrato, circa 1650

Well, fellas, Christmas has come round again, with its timeworn message of peace, goodwill to men.  A message this old world desperately needs to hear - but is anyone listening?  

As I've been preparing this post, I've tried to think of how to express what Christmas means to me, but my sluggish old man's brain has been slow to respond.  However, I happily discovered that I already said those things in this Christmas post from 2022, if anyone cares to read it.

Sadly, Christmas at our house is not as merry and bright as it has been in Christmases past. For one reason or another, none of M.P.'s family are coming to enjoy the usual big Yule feast with us.  So no need for all that cooking, baking, and decorating: a single wreath over the fireplace is enough.  But M.P.  has begun preparations for our smaller Christmas dinner a deux, probably on Sunday, which will feature his luscious Red Cajun Duck, a real bell-ringer.  I do wish some of my truckbuddies lived nearer, so we could invite them over for a really festive dinner now and then. 

Anyway, I wish all my truckbuddies a very Merry Christmas with the ones they love.  Here's one of my favorite Christmas songs in a thrilling a cappella version by Heart that I just now discovered.  Crank it up, sit back, and enjoy.

+   +   +   +   +

Bonus:  Pope Leo delivers a brilliant and beautiful homily during Midnight Mass at St. Peter's Basilica:

This is the Christian faith.

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The King's Christmas Broadcast, 2024

Continuing a tradition set by his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1957, His Majesty the King today broadcast a televised Christmas message to his peoples in Britain and the other 65 member states of the Commonwealth of Nations.  

The first royal Christmas broadcast was made by King George V via radio in 1932, inaugurating the BBC Empire Service, later the World Service.

After the jump:  the lyrics of "Once in Royal David's City," quoted by the King in his address.

Merry Christmas to All 2024

Good boy or bad boy, Santa's got something for you!

Here's wishing Christmas cheer and peace of mind to all my truckbuddies.

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Cavalcade of Food: Cooking Up Christmas Joy

Kevin and Ralph get the Cavalcade storefront windows in Croswell, Michigan, all decked out for the holidays with Christmas trees and vintage appliances.

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The Pork Boys Do the Holidays

As usual, the Pork Boys enjoyed a raft of delicious meals for Christmas, New Year's, and Kings' Day, all made from scratch by M.P., resident chef extraordinaire.

Unfortunately, your Head Trucker has gotten pretty lax in the picture-taking department, so we don't have a comprehensive set of pics.  I'm posting these here mainly just for our own future reference.

M.P. knocks himself out cooking these holiday meals, but now he is pooped and swears he won't cook another thing the rest of this month.  But he always comes up with some new culinary idea before February arrives.  I wish all my truckbuddies, and everyone in the world, could enjoy such delightful repasts.

Yule Dinner for M.P.'s kids and grandkids:

M.P. made a beautiful charcuterie platter with meats, cheeses, nuts, olives, and dried fruit.

M.P.'s clever rearrangement of the front room makes it possible now to seat 14 without crowding at the holidays.

The King's Christmas Broadcast, 2023

Bonus: The Coronation Year, a documentary by British TV network ITV, which was given behind-the-scenes access to Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey.

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Christmas Windows

Kevin, the proprietor of Cavalcade of Food, shows off his Christmas window displays at his private museum of vintage appliances and kitchenware up in Croswell, Michigan:

 

Bonus: In another recent video, Kevin shows and tells how to make delicious-looking peanut butter chocolate chip muffins:

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Christmas Cuteness

Just happened to come across this video on YouTube.  Todd and Rob are husbands with movie-star smiles who love spending time in their North Georgia mountain home, and of course they have it decorated to the hilt for Christmas.  Not all of this glitterfest is to your Head Trucker's liking, but then it doesn't have to be.  I'm just glad I have lived to see a time when two men could have a home together and tell the world about it - something unimaginable in the first part of my life.  

Well, see what you think, fellas.  (But jet black ornaments on a Christmas tree??  Shudder.)

Your questions answered here:

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The Pork Boys Do the Holidays

This is just for our reference: pics of our All-Holiday meal on January 8th, making up for having missed Christmas, New Year's, and Kings' Day dinners on account of M.P. being sick in bed for two weeks with a dreadful cold.

 

New 7-foot Christmas tree with rotating star.

Three Cajun Red Ducks stuffed with jambalaya - this was for our Yule dinner with all the kids and grandkids on December 18th, before M.P. got sick.

The ducks cut up and placed on a platter for serving.

Our All-Holiday table setting on January 8th.

Appetizer:  chicken livers wrapped in bacon, en brochette. 
A favorite tradition of ours.

M.P.'s fabulous Cream of Green soup, with homemade croutons.
Ingredients per M.P.:
green onions, potatoes (just one thinly sliced), sauteed in margarine a short time,
then chicken bouillon, and green beans cooked for a bit. puree all and add a bit
of sour cream while pureeing. rewarm in pot adding a lot of dill, S&P, and more sour cream to taste.

Dinner:  from 5 o'clock, a piece of spinach-stuffed porkchop; buttered schoolhouse roll; piece of sugared butternut squash; and very cheesy potatoes au gratin.

Almost forgot:  a helping of pistachio fluff topped with maraschino cherries.

Our grand Christmas and New Year's dessert every year:
Chocolate mousse cake topped with raspberry sauce.

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The King's Christmas Broadcast, 2022

A Christian king addresses his multi-faith people in Britain and around the world. Continuing a tradition set by the late Queen, King Charles makes his first Christmas broadcast, and in my view. says all the right things in just the right way. Well done, Sir. 

Text:

I am standing here in this exquisite Chapel of St George at Windsor Castle, so close to where my beloved mother, the late Queen, is laid to rest with my dear father.

I am reminded of the deeply touching letters, cards and messages which so many of you have sent my wife and myself and I cannot thank you enough for the love and sympathy you have shown our whole family.

Christmas is a particularly poignant time for all of us who have lost loved ones. We feel their absence at every familiar turn of the season and remember them in each cherished tradition.

In the much-loved carol O Little Town Of Bethlehem we sing of how “in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light”.

My mother’s belief in the power of that light was an essential part of her faith in God, but also her faith in people and it is one which I share with my whole heart.

It is a belief in the extraordinary ability of each person to touch, with goodness and compassion, the lives of others, and to shine a light in the world around them.

This is the essence of our community and the very foundation of our society.

We see it in the selfless dedication of our armed forces and emergency services who work tirelessly to keep us all safe, and who performed so magnificently as we mourned the passing of our late Queen.

We see it in our health and social care professionals, our teachers and indeed all those working in public service, whose skill and commitment are at the heart of our communities.

And at this time of great anxiety and hardship, be it for those around the world facing conflict, famine or natural disaster, or for those at home finding ways to pay their bills and keep their families fed and warm, we see it in the humanity of people throughout our nations and the Commonwealth who so readily respond to the plight of others.

I particularly want to pay tribute to all those wonderfully kind people who so generously give food or donations, or that most precious commodity of all, their time, to support those around them in greatest need, together with the many charitable organisations which do such extraordinary work in the most difficult circumstances.

Our churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and gurdwaras, have once again united in feeding the hungry, providing love and support throughout the year. Such heartfelt solidarity is the most inspiring expression of loving our neighbour as our self.

The Prince and Princess of Wales recently visited Wales, shining a light on practical examples of this community spirit.

Some years ago, I was able to fulfil a life-long wish to visit Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity.

There, I went down into the Chapel of the Manger and stood in silent reverence by the silver star that is inlaid on the floor and marks the place of our Lord Jesus Christ’s birth.

It meant more to me than I can possibly express to stand on that spot where, as the Bible tells us, ‘the light that has come into the world’ was born.

While Christmas is, of course, a Christian celebration, the power of light overcoming darkness is celebrated across the boundaries of faith and belief.

So, whatever faith you have, or whether you have none, it is in this life-giving light, and with the true humility that lies in our service to others, that I believe we can find hope for the future.

Let us therefore celebrate it together, and cherish it always.

With all my heart, I wish each of you a Christmas of peace, happiness and everlasting light.

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Merry Christmas 2022

Madonna and Child by Il Sassoferrato, 1674. 

Another Christmas has arrived, another year has passed.  When I was a little boy, it seemed that Christmas took forever to get here, and the wait was awful.  Now it seems more and more that Christmases just fly by, like transit stops, and are gone before you have time to register the fact.

But amid all the changes and chances of this frantic modern world, Christmas endures as a fixed point in everyone's life, even for non-believers, and its traditions are remarkably steadfast:  the Christmas tree loaded with decorations and lights, presents wrapped in all manner of glittering ways, lights in the windows and on the roof, a gargantuan feast of all sorts of delicacies that "we always have" at this time, and for most folks, a houseful of family and friends, all ages, at least for Christmas dinner.  It has been said that "you can't go home again," and in a certain sense that is very true; but even so, Christmas remains the one day of the year that you just must "go home again," even if you don't particularly want to.  And, sadly, some people don't.  For others, there is no longer any "home" to go to.

But for most, Christmas dinner is a love feast, a few hours of merriment, remembrance, and affection, a joyful reconnection with the people we love most.  In Christian terms, it typifies at the family table the Feast of the Incarnation that we celebrate in church - or would, if our infirmities did not prevent us from doing so.  That magnum mysterium - God becoming a man - a baby - born to a human mother, not in a palace but in a stable full of animals and all their smells - with not even a cradle to lie in, but a manger - a feed trough, we might say - the great humility and tender love of the Creator for his creatures, shown in the humblest possible circumstances.  In the golden words of the Communion Prayer, which means so much to me (emphasis mine):

Holy and gracious Father: In your infinite love you made us

for yourself, and, when we had fallen into sin and become

subject to evil and death, you, in your mercy, sent Jesus

Christ, your only and eternal Son, to share our human

nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the God and Father of all.

A breathtaking thought!  People around the world worship many gods, but I know of no other religion which proclaims that God Himself became man and dwelt among us.  And not to lord it over us or live in royal state, but to fail miserably, as the world accounts failure, abandoned by his friends and condemned to a brutal death, as the prayer I just quoted continues:

He stretched out his arms upon the cross, and offered himself,

in obedience to your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole

world.

And so death was not the end of the story, but the beginning - the divine paradox at work here is rather typical of God, actually:  the first shall be last, and the last shall be first, and so on.  And from that inglorious end, from that glorious beginning, countless millions of believers have drawn comfort and hope in every sort of adversity, and strength to do good works of all sorts at all times and places; to spend their lives in loving, humble service to God and their neighbors, according to the light they had.

A humble faith gives meaning and purpose to even the most obscure life.  Of course, not every Christian life is a successful one - but by Our Lord's own example, we may understand that what seems a useless failure to worldly eyes is perhaps not quite so worthless in the sight of Heaven.  I was struck by something the dear old Queen said in one of her recent Christmas broadcasts, which appears on the sidebar of my blog, and has become a light in my heart:

We cannot all do great things; 

but we can do small things with great love.

To which I would add, Keep on; do what you can.  Our small efforts may not seem like much in the world's eyes or in the scheme of the universe; but He whose eye is on the sparrow will surely value them at a higher rate, if done for love's sake.  Because that is what the Christian religion is all about:  God is Love.  The love of parent and child; of brothers and sisters; of spouses and neighbors and friends; of all mankind, rich and poor, high and low alike; the Love that moves the stars, as the poet says.

That is what Christmas means to me:  the remembrance of a profound act of love by God for us foolish, faithless, selfish human beings, which gave us the means of grace in this life and the hope of glory in the next.  Even if you do not believe the story is true - and I do not say anyone must - you can still, I hope, appreciate it as a magnificent piece of poetry, a feast for the soul, and a light in the darkness, which this rough old world is always in need of.  We would do well to keep the feast in our hearts all the year through.

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Well, there's your Christmas sermon in case you don't make it to midnight mass.  But having gotten that off my chest, I wish a very Merry Christmas to Tim, Frank, Davis, and all my other truckbuddies - God bless us, every one!

Our new 7.5-foot tree (cost only $25), with a rotating star
 full of rainbow-colored lights.

Our happy little hacienda in a rainbow of colored lights; the pic does not convey the real beauty.  All of these new-fangled lights are quite bright and distinct from one another, though they appear to blur together in the photo.  Some of them in the windows and around the eaves twinkle.

P. S. - Go hear Frank's very talented niece singing "O Holy Night."

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The Pork Boys Do the Holidays

We are resting and recuperating this week after a time of feasting and celebration through the holiday season just past.  Here are some pics and menus to record what all Chef M.P. conjured up, which was heartily enjoyed by all, and not least by your Head Trucker - who washed the dishes.   

First of all was our Yule dinner, the biggest feast of the year, held on December 19th for M.P.'s four children and their spouses (or spouse-equivalents) and four pint-sized grandchildren.  That makes quite a crowd in our little bungalow, but somehow they all managed to squeeze in and have a good time.  Such a good time was had, in fact, that we took only one picture:  

These two entrees were a big hit.  Our guests devoured every last bite.
You should understand that M.P. cured the ham himself from a pork loin, which took weeks to do.  And he used a succulent beef tenderloin in the Wellington, carefully tenderized in a long marinade of wine and herbs.  Click to enlarge.

Here is the full menu, which M.P. exerted himself mightily for days to prepare, along with decorating the house inside and out:

Baked Ham with Orange-Apricot Glaze 

Beef Wellington 

Colcannon 

Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce 

Waldorf Salad 

Homemade Yeast Rolls

Assorted Cheesecakes 

The young people brought the cheesecakes, along with a variety of beers and wines, foreign and domestic.

Then a week later, M.P. and I had our own little Christmas dinner - here is what the table looked like:

The green pointy thing in the bowl is a dinner napkin, very meticulously wrapped and rolled to resemble a little Christmas tree - very charming.  Below is a lightened crop of it.

Several years ago, the children gave M.P. this lovely electric fireplace, and that is definitely the way to go - no fuss, no muss, just click the remote and presto, instant warmth and cheer.

The canard rouge and jambalaya, hot out of the oven and oh so delicious!

The meal actually began with Cream of Green Soup, which is made from pureed green beans - I know it doesn't sound so great, but believe me, it's luscious.

At left, diced candied butternut squash; at right, Brussels sprouts a la Polonaise

From six o'clock:  duck with stuffing and gravy, pineapple casserole, homemade croissant and honey butter, Brussels sprouts, butternut squash.

The piece de resistance:  Our favorite chocolate mousse cake, made from scratch, of course, with homemade whipped cream and a dollop of sugared raspberries. 
Ooh la la!

A week later, having had some duck egg rolls in the meantime, we enjoyed our New Year's feast:

The table setting, with a piece of royal blue velvet in the center.

From six o'clock:  fried chicken livers, baked sweet potato and butter, grits and gravy, black-eyed peas.  Chicken livers, grits, and gravy are not a Southern tradition for New Year's Day - but it was all just so doggone good, we promptly decided it will be OUR tradition from here on!

A delicious big pot of gumbo aux herbes, sometimes called gumbo zerbes, which includes five types of greens and pieces of smoked sausage.  Talk about good!  These were served in a separate bowl.

One of my Christmas presents to M.P. was a cast-iron pan for making corn sticks, which he promptly put to good use just like his mama used to do.

A picture of our Christmas tree, full of peacocks and blue birds, and maybe some partridges and pears.  I should have taken a closeup or two.  It was really lovely at night, strung with blue and white lights.

But wait, there's more.  Last Sunday we had our Kings' Day feast with three crowns on the table, of course.

From six o'clock:  breaded pork schnitzel with cream gravy; crown roll (M.P. simply snipped the top three times with scissors before baking); buttered new potatoes; stuffed eggplant; and green lima beans with tomatoes.

And so we well and truly celebrated the holidays, with gratitude for good thing, and have spent the last week recuperating from all the exertion!  But it was fun, and the time passed happily.  I hope all my truckbuddies ate as well and enjoy a happy and prosperous New Year from here on out.

The Queen's Christmas Broadcast, 2021

Her Majesty the Queen broadcast her annual Christmas message to the nation and the Commonwealth today, and paid tribute to the memory of Prince Philip, who died this year on April 9th.  This is the first Christmas the Queen has spent without her beloved consort since they were married in 1947.  Nevertheless, her message was characteristically optimistic and encouraging.

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Merry Christmas 2021

M.P. outdid himself this year with the Christmas lights, which took a week to string up.  Some stranger even left an anonymous note of appreciation on our doorstep.

Here's wishing a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my truckbuddies.  Thanks for riding along with me in the Blue Truck. 

A few of my favorite Christmas tunes sung by some of my favorite artists:

 

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The Pork Boys Do Christmas 2020

M.P. likes to string lots of lights out front, but this year settled for simplicity.  I think it's pretty enough for two old men who don't need to be falling off ladders.

Since the annual family dinner was cancelled on account of the pandemic, we were left with a larder full of goodies that M.P. has been accumulating over the past few months, as he always does, in anticipation of feeding a houseful of his posterity.  But nothing daunted, M.P. has carried on with cooking as planned - we have simply decided to celebrate not merely one day, but all twelve days of Christmas this year, each with something delicious to eat.  Of course leftovers are part of the plan, but every day M.P. thinks up some new dish or treat for us to enjoy.  Monday it was homemade shortbread cookies.  Yesterday it was mini-tacos, a nice change of taste after being well-nigh surfeited with ham, duck, and even goose.

Here are a few pics to show you what I mean:

Christmas Eve hors d'oeuvres:  yummy deviled quail eggs, eight kinds of cheese, assorted crackers, and a pot of luscious cream of green bean soup (sounds yucky, but believe me when I tell you it is really sublime).  The array of spoons was not really necessary for just us two, but isn't it pretty?

La table, soup bowls at the ready.

M.P. made the lighted wreath out of twigs and things he picked up in the yard.

Christmas Day buffet:  this time with the addition of scrumptious homemade pate de foie gras as well as a plate of oven-fried chicken pops coated with bread crumbs and parmesan cheese.

Cardinals have been a favorite Christmas motif of ours for years, since we have a family of them that nests in one of the backyard trees.  But notice that our new lighted centerpiece has two red cardinals.  Think about it.

Candlelight makes the season bright, whether real or artificial.

A view from the fireplace end of the room.  When M.P.'s family comes to dinner, we somehow manage to seat 14 people in this same space, using extra tables and chairs.  M.P. loves to cook for his young'uns, but he does admit Christmas is a bit more enjoyable this year without having to deal with the logistics of feeding a crowd.

We are very thankful, considering all the things that might have turned out much worse this year, personally and politically, that despite the infirmities of advancing age and precarious finances, we are still able to enjoy good cheer, good food, glad hearts, and quiet minds.  I hope all my truckbuddies are likewise enjoying this season of renewed hope and goodwill with those they love.

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The Queen's Christmas Broadcast, 2020

Her Majesty the Queen broadcast her annual Christmas message to the nation and the Commonwealth today - and a deeply moving message it was, too.

Even on the darkest nights, there is hope in the new dawn.

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Merry Christmas 2020

Credo quia pulchrum est.

The Adoration of the Shepherds, by
Gerard van Honthorst, ca. 1622.  Click to enlarge.

For us and for our salvation

he came down from heaven:

by the power of the Holy Spirit

he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,

and was made man . . .

to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, 

to reconcile us to you, the God and Father of all.

The Gramophone Ghana Chorus sings out the good news with joy:

 

It has been a year of unexpected changes, great and small; and even Christmas is being celebrated differently this year by many people around the world, though the spirit of the season is still evident if one has eyes to see it.  

After a toilsome week of cleaning up the messes left by successive Christmas parties at his school, M.P. rested a bit at home and then got busy once again stringing lights on the front of the house, and decorating the living/dining room with a truckload of abandoned poinsettias he brought home from work.  Now it looks a bit like a Christmas garden in there, considering it was already filled up with all the outside potted plants that we are sheltering indoors for the winter - a couple of them are as tall as I am.

M.P. has also given the main rooms a Christmas cleaning, though not quite as thoroughly as usual, because this year his children and grandchildren are not coming for the annual Yule dinner at Papaw's house; after a good deal of dithering and twittering and what-shall-we-do-ing, the group mind finally settled on each family staying home and cooking for themselves.  Which is a prudent decision for all concerned, old and young; but M.P. had already laid in supplies of Christmas foods that he was not about to let go to waste, including a nice fat duck, and a ham that he produced himself by curing and smoking a piece of ordinary pork loin - which seems a miracle to me.  

So on Monday evening, the day of the winter solstice and, this year, the remarkable Great Conjunction - a fascinating sight in the southwestern sky - M.P. after much cheffing around in the kitchen served up a luscious Yule dinner for just us two, and here are the pics to prove it.  Of course, the proof is in the eating, but you just have to take my word for it that every single bite was deee-licious.

From 5 o'clock:  apricot-glazed ham (so tender it fell apart in cutting); succulent roast duck leg; deep-fried diced parsnips (like potatoes, but slightly sweeter); creamed sweet potatoes; spinach-cheese casserole; and a deep-fried biscuit, crispy outside and oh-so-buttery inside.

Of course, we have been re-heating and re-eating this same meal ever since, delightedly.  But there is more to come from the depths of the pantry and deep freeze:  On Friday M.P. will bestir himself to cook a proper Christmas dinner; then next week, a New Year's dinner; and the week after that, a King's Day dinner, with I hope, a nice King's Cake to top things off.  And your Head Trucker, being also Head Dishwasher of this joint, will do his part to keep kitchen operations rolling along.

Yesterday M.P. spent the whole day boxing and wrapping presents for his progeny (4 adult children, 3 spouses at the moment, and 4 little tykes), including all sorts of fascinating toys and dolls and whaddayacallits that toddle and coo and go root-a-toot-toot.  Later today he will drop them off, and then come back to put up our Christmas tree.  (While he is gone, I will wrap the few presents I got for him.)  On the big day, there will be a family Zoom conference to watch the unwrappings at the various houses, which for parents is the climax of all their endeavors.  How lucky we all are to live in an age of such technological miracles.

And so Christmas is not ruined at all, just a little different this year; I do hope by next Christmas things can get back to the usual routine - busy but comforting in the endless procession of the years.  And I hope all of my truckbuddies are enjoying some Christmas cheer right now - though you may be apart from your loved ones, and perchance even Zoomless, you can still be united in spirit.  And I believe that, come what may in this mortal life, nothing can ever separate us from the eternal Love that moves the stars, and moves our willing hearts, by whatever name you call it.

I am thankful for the quiet good cheer M.P. and I share here in our humble circumstances, with general health and finances stable at the moment; as we have both reflected, it would be a sad thing, growing older, to eat alone day after day.  It's harder to cook for one than for two.  So we celebrate what we have with grateful hearts.  I'll close these rambling thoughts now with some musical selections that sum up the meaning and the joy of Christmas for me.  My prayers go up for peace on this troubled earth and goodwill among men all over the world;  and from our house to all of yours, we send best wishes for a very Merry Christmas.

The Lessons Appointed for Use on the Feast of 

Christmas Day

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