Sunday, December 18, 2016

Holiday Overload?

Are you exhausted from trying to re-create your family’s remembrances of holidays past? It’s time for a quiet break—like that created by reading a good book. You can’t spend much time relaxing. How about a short story or two? It’s cheaper than a massage.

Here’s some stories with nostalgia, but also a jolt of reality.

How did students find information for school reports before the Internet? They used encyclopedias, but most were expensive and only in libraries. Then, A&P grocery stores offered a different volume of the Golden Book Encyclopedia each month as a sales gimmick. How Old Is the Earth? is a tale of how the increased availability of information changed lives. The story also evokes memories of a time when cotton/polyester wasn’t available and all cotton school uniforms were ironed daily. (Not a fond memory.)

Do you remember your first bra? (Sorry guys, you missed that experience.) Did it look a bit like Madonna’s costume with two cones of foam strung together with straps? Enjoy the humorous memories in I Look Like Papa.

Then there are old photos. Do they reflect the past or are they attempts to paint an alternate reality? The answer varies in my vignettes. I’ll let you read Thanks for the Memories and Double Exposure and decide.



These stories make a great gift for those older men, who are impossible to buy for, for those young adults who think life was easier in the past, or for anyone who reads. Remember: books are easy to wrap.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS from Janet & Bug.