Bill W

Although the holidays can be a wonderful time, you can become languid afterward due to physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion.

Thank you, Daddy D. Yes, losing one's parents can be devastating, but turning it into a positive and bring you peace and a little Christmas cheer. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas season as well.

I'm glad you enjoyed it, Danilo, and even compared it to the love in the Castaway Hotel. Thank you for the feedback and have a very Merry Christmas.

I agree, I'd leave the bigots off that list as well. It isn't easy to overcome an unexpected loss, but making the best of a bad situation helps. Thank you for the feedback and have a joyous Christmas as well.

Thanks, Alex. I'm glad you enjoyed this story.

A few days after spending Thanksgiving with Seth’s parents, Seth and Adam receive a call from Seth’s father informing them that Seth’s mother has passed away. They went to spend time with Seth’s father so they could console him and help to plan the funeral, but two days later Seth’s father passes away as well. This was a horrible start to the Christmas season, so what can they possibly do to make it better?

My husband and I had just returned from having Thanksgiving with my parents. Even though we all lived in the same county, my husband and I live in a suburban area just outside of the city, while my parents live farther out in a more rural part of the county. For that reason, it wasn’t a long trip to get to their house and we could drive there in less than thirty minutes, but this year we stayed with them for most of the holiday weekend. We arrived on Wednesday night and then stayed with

And it also refers to those damn rumble strips along the sides of the highway. It's usually a good thing, except for when I lane is partially blocked due to an accident or construction and you're forced to drive on the rumble strip for for an extended distance. It rattles the fillings in my teeth when that happens.

This word began from the Latin word "radix" meaning root and referring to literal plant roots. This was later the basis for the Old French word "desraciner" meaning to dig out or pull up by the roots, but unfortunately it took up other meanings when the word was absorbed into English. The most horrific example of the meaning of this word happened in the mid 17th to early 20th centuries when it became the foundation for the American Indian Schools. In this example, young Native Americans were plucked from their families and tribes and forced to live in "residential schools" in order to civilize or assimilate them into the Euro-American culture. The Native Americans were forced to change their style of dress and appearance, forced to stop using their native tongue and start using English instead, and assume a totally new and different way of life. Native Americans were deracinated by the U.S. and Canadian governments in an attempt to '"civilize" them.

If you hadn't stated which child had which pet, I might have suspected it was the other way around. I just hope the gecko doesn't become a snack for the python at some point.

Actually, when I first saw the word I thought it said creepuscular. And seeing it refers to animals that come out at dusk and dawn, some of them can be very creepy.

It makes more sense when you realize this word came from the Latin word crepusculum, meaning twilight. In zoologogy, it means an animal that appears or becomes active at dawn and dusk.

Yes, in an effort to modernize the Roman Catholic church, the wearing habits and wimples were made optional after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s and many nuns stopped wearing them all together. If you remember the song "Maria" from the "Sound of Music", the first stanza goes like this: She climbs a tree and scr*pes her knee Her dress has got a tear She waltzes on her way to Mass And whistles on the stair And underneath her wimple She has curlers in her hair I even heard her singing in the abbey

Yes, like the term nouveau riche - a derogatory term meaning the newly rich, which insinuates they didn't derive their money from old family wealth and inheritance.

That's definitely making the most out of a Latin root word, including its various tenses.

Whoever A-rod was with at the time must have been a really aggressive partner to have hurt his wang, but when his condom truck slipped and spilled its load, they must have been scrambling to find a morning-after pill.

I can see why it fell into disuse. Unless you think of 'to ape' a behavior, the word itself doesn't lend to thinking of its meaning in this way. I much prefer using mock instead.

Not to be confused with pregnant.

Any of you that watched M.A.S.H., either in its original run or in reruns, might be familiar with this word. Colonel Potter was the last surviving member of his WW I unit and shared his prize, a bottle of booze they'd recover from a French Chateau, with those under him at the MASH unit. He saluted his old comrades first, and then drank a toast to his current friends. It was a very touching episode.

Kids will feign sleeping when their parents check on them in their bedroom so they can stay up later.

And possibly Scandinavia.

Teachers frequently glower at their students.

So, does demure mean a modest person is hiding behind walls???

Don't worry about Val. She knows how to handle those big snowfalls. It was last reported that she was hollowing out an igloo, and when she finished she opened a bottle of wine to help her keep warm.

I definitely agree with you. There were many other LGBTQ members that contributed in winning WW II for the allies, it's just that what Turing did was overshadowed by the fact that he was gay. Even though the British government apologized and pardoned Turing in 2009, it came 55 years after his death. Thank you for your feedback.