The Best of Times?

December 30, 2013
By: O. J. Cunningham

It was a good Christmas at the Cunningham house this year.

Certainly not a classic Christmas in the sense of Christmas trees, eggnog and cookies left alongside a glass of milk on the mantle for Santa.

Such is the time line of life's journey.

The kids are finding their life's way (Seattle and Illinois) and that has left the nest empty and the parents reminiscing about the "good old days" when the little ones were characterized by ages using only single digits.

Thanks to the technology of the season, we were able to video chat with daughter Jessica in Seattle while she and husband Zane opened presents. Very enjoyable.

After the initial Christmas Day rush, Christopher and his wife Kiwi traveled from Illinois and joined Donna and I at our cabin on the Pere Marquette River for a few days of cooking, board games and just plain old family fun.

IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us . . . ~~~ Charles Dickens, 1859.

There are two recent videos that have helped capture the emotion of the Christmas holiday for me.

Odd Coincidence . . . both videos feature the same music although by different artists.

The first is a TV commercial for Apple iPhone.

The second was uploaded to Vimeo by a fishing friend -- Steve Fraley -- at Baldwin (MI) Filmed during a Christmas Day fishing guide trip on the Pere Marquette River.

Enjoy them both.

I do.

And . . . Enjoy the rest of the 2013 Christmas season.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

It just may be . . . "The Best of (Christmas) Times."