By Margaret Evans, Editor

The last time I wrote about a virus, it was the stomach bug that took down my entire extended family (and our friends) a few holiday seasons ago. Happily, I had a different kind of viral experience this Christmas.

My husband and I have been together for 5 months shy of 20 years. That's 19 Christmases, y'all.  We have somehow survived an unending brutal recession, a violently popped real estate bubble, 6 tropical storms, 3 tornadoes and a half dozen nasty cases of the stomach bug. We have remained strong through 7 moves, 43 tween sleepovers, lost teeth, lost keys, flat tires, burnt spaghetti pans, Amex bills, ER visits, and countless steely bouts of individual self-esteem.

By Margaret Evans, Editor

It was a dark and stormy night . . .

            Actually, it was early evening, and not quite dark yet, and not really stormy, either . . . just blustery and a little drizzly. But it was cold. Marvelously cold. After a relentless stretch of warm, sunny weather, it finally felt like November.