Where Have You Gone Andy Williams?

Sad news out of Branson, Missouri these days as legendary crooner Andy Williams — frozen in our minds each season belting out Happy Holidays! — is getting long in the tooth and may not even be able to appear at his annual Christmas variety show. Williams, who next year celebrates 75 years in the...

Mr. T’s Presidential Christmas Memory

Action hero Mr. T once dressed up as Santa for a meeting with late former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. The A-Team star – real name Laurence Tureaud – was invited to meet the late leader and his First Lady Nancy Reagan at Christmas in 1983. And, despite pleas from his mother to behave himself,...

Christmas Eve 1944

Two months after March 7, 1945, when American, British and other Allied forces had crossed the Rhine River into Germany, World War II in Europe came to an end. On May 7, 1945, Germany signed an unconditional surrender, which was ratified the next day. May 8, 2008, marks the 63rd anniversary of that victory....

Wacky Christmas Facts

~ Winter was a time of celebration to pre-Christian Romans and they decorated fir trees in honor of this seasonal change. ~ The use of a Christmas wreath as a decoration on your front door, mantel or bay window symbolizes a sign of welcome and long life to all who enter. ~Today poinsettias are the most...

Five Trees

Things were sad at our house when our nineteen-year-old sister died in June of 1940. Her name was Alice. She contacted polio when she was a three-year-old. Alice wore braces until she was in her teens. I spent more than one morning trying to repair the leather and iron contraptions so she could get to...

Christmas Eve in Billings, Montana 1954

Early last week, James Carroll of Tyler, Texas, came to Billings for the second time in his life. It was an enjoyable visit, but it was hard to top that first one, on Christmas Eve 1954. Carroll was a 23-year-old Army private at the time, just out of basic training at Fort Bliss, Texas, on his way to Seattle...