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  What are two of your wishes and hopes for 2024, one that is possible and the other more aspirational? All might agree that 2023 has been a year of challenges. We’ve been hammered by the economic climate and climate change, gun violence, soaring student debt, precarious gig employment, skyrocketing home prices, Covid-19 and RSV, two major wars, a dysfunctional Congress and so much more. Albeit these concerns seem overwhelming, we have endured many horrors of the past and recalibrated our lives. Yet, there is hope and we wish for better times. Fortuitously, human beings are resilient. A piece in...

  Ready to step away? Defer to the younger generation? Did you hear yourself saying this too many times while hosting and preparing Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, or for upcoming Christmas or a New Year’s feast, “I’m too old for this?” If you said it more than once, you probably really meant it and are. You listened to your mumblings and paid attention to your physical aches and pains. We heartily suggest a twist on an old aphorism: “If it’s broke, fix it!” Can you relate?                                           Let’s get real. It’s harder to bend and get down on the floor whether to play with...

We’re out of practice in entertaining, so we’re trying to relearn how to be gracious, feed people, converse (keep organ recitals to a minimum), make our homes look festive and spotless and have fun after years of hibernating and silence!  We say start small. Rather than throwing a big, fancy dinner party, which would be an ordeal and so expensive today, try a series of more modest gatherings with just a few folks where we offer enough food to friends. We are talking about a few small bite-sized appetizers or amuse-bouche, but not a full-course dinner that becomes labor intensive...

Nothing makes you feel as good as doing good. What could be a better time of year to experience this and share the idea with others. The impetus for this blog came to us in an email asking for donations to underserved children in New York City by purchasing holiday gifts for up to $30. A spreadsheet was attached with the gift requests, the child’s age, favorite color and so on. Pretty easy, right? It stirred up our philanthropic and creative juices. We like to give gifts, at least one of us does, so we came up with a hybrid gift...

A letter to help a friend’s child get into a certain college. Reaching out to someone for the suggestion of a good doctor. Going on a trip almost anywhere and contacting someone who lives there for ideas about good restaurants, the most important sights, where to stay.   A recommendation is basically advice from a source who’s in the know for information for a specific objective. But asking someone for a recommendation or giving one may cut into our busy schedules. It’s a favor, sometimes a huge one, since we all know that our time is precious.   We’ve both been asked...