It was New Year’s Eve. I was eleven years old and happy to have my dad back from the Navy at the end of World War II. A tradition in our family and observed by others in our working class neighborhood was to go outside and fire our shotguns in the air at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve.

Today is December 17th, another eight days and Christmas will be here for 2004. What will you be doing this Christmas? If you have a live wire and bubbly family, Christmas will probably be a time of friendship and laughter, of love and giving.