Tag Archives: christmas

THE GUILT OF MOTHERS by Peter Nolan Smith

Back in the 1990s I deserted New York to spend the Easter holiday with my family on the South Shore of Boston. Despite my abandonment of God as a child my mother persisted in requesting my attendance at morning Mass. It was a small sacrifice to make for the woman who brought me into this […]

Home By Christmas 2009

Published June 9 2009 In 2009 the Pentagon has announced the capture of an American soldier by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The young man supposedly walked off base with three Afghani soldiers, although there were also reports that Bowe Bergdahl had lagged behind a patrol. A video was released by the Taliban on which the […]

Christmas on Walking Street 2007

Written 2006 Twelve years ago my 4 year-old daughter had a long Christmas Eve. Gifts in the morning. Khao Khio Zoo at noon and then a swim at the Shaba Hut pool. By 7pm her eyes drifted together and weary muscles refused to support her weight. I carried Angie into the bedroom and laid her […]

GUILT VERSUS SHAME by Peter Nolan Smith

Back in the last century I left work on 47th Street early on December 24. Manny complained that I was deserting my post selling diamonds, but I had been working every day since Thanksgiving. “I should pay you a half-day.” Manny was a grinch of the first-order. “Do what you want. I’m heading home.” Boston […]

Ho Ho Ho Hannukah

Five years ago my boss’ grandson visited her jewelry store with her husband. The holiday season had been brutal. We had yet to make a sale. While her husband parked their Landrover, Jeri taught the six-year-old how to open a safe and once the handsome lad opened the steel cube she asked, “Did you get […]