Christmas Stories

Here are a few of my favorite family Christmas stories to share with everyone. Enjoy!

Christmas Bulbs
Adam and I were really young at the time, just young little boys. It was the Christmas season and the tree was decorated. One afternoon my mom was out running errands and such and my dad was responsible for watching after Adam and I. Well, my dad was deep asleep on the couch, probably watching football on a Sunday afternoon. As for Adam and I were we running back and forth to the Christmas tree to grab those glass ball ornaments. We just thought it was so fun to take them and throw them down the stairs in the other room and watch them shatter on the floor. Needless to say, my dad was in trouble when my mom walked in the front door with several glass ornaments shattered at her feet. I’m sure Adam and I were in trouble too, but it probably wouldn’t happened had my dad been watching us. But it’s harmless, and years later it makes a priceless memory!

Mom’s Sweater
My mother and father were shopping together at the mall in Houghton one afternoon when my mom came across this sweater that she really liked. My dad insisted that she didn’t need to buy it because Christmas was just around the corner. Well, my dad knowing my mom so well knew that she would try and buy it anyways. So my dad when he was up the next, before my mom had a chance to go, he asked the ladies at the store to take the sweaters of my mom’s size off the rack. Not only can I believe my dad asked them to do that, but that they agreed to. My dad can be quite the tricky guy. Well my mom was disappointed when she came home to tell my dad they were all out of her sweatshirt. But once again she was at the mall a while later, this time in Marquette. And there it was, the same sweatshirt. This time she told herself she really needs to buy it before they run out of her size again. So she did. And there she was wearing it around the house until Christmas. My dad let her wear it without too much grief. But when my mom opened a present with the same sweater on Christmas morning I think my mom learned her lesson, as my dad had already bought it for her.

My First Christmas Letter
Several years ago when my mom discovered that I liked writing she suggested that I write the annual family Christmas letter, so I did. It had rave reviews and I wrote it for several years. However, that first year my parents got a letter in response from Gordon Guyer, who was the previous president at Michigan State University. My mom grew up in the same neighborhood as his kids. Well the letter said that one day I would make a great Spartan as he commented on how well written it was and how much he enjoyed it. It meant a world to me coming from a former president of the university, I was only a young teen at the time and college was still far out of the picture. But now I’m a proud Spartan for life. His letter has always been inspiring and motivational to me. I didn’t need to apply to any other colleges. So here is what I wrote this year for my mom to include in her annual letter.

Merry Christmas to all!

It’s that time of year for the annual Sailor Christmas letter. But this year one Sailor will be missing back home. That’s me. At some point in the last year I decided it would be a good idea to travel all 50 states staying with people I’ve never met and not come home until I’ve seen them all. Crazy idea, right? Well, if you think the idea is crazy, it’s even crazier to be living it!

Since leaving Baraga on September 8th I have traveled to 14 states (15 if you include a short trip to NYC, but I’m pretty sure my mom covered that in her letter). So you may be asking, “What does someone do for all that time meeting strangers and traveling alone?” In nearly four months I have traveled almost 9700 miles. I have over 4,000 photos on my computer, and over 150 blog entries on the website. I have met hundreds of people by now and have experienced more in this short time than I could have ever imagined.

I have gone to the top of the Sears Tower, Space Needle, Hoover Tower, and Empire State Building. I have wandered through the Redwoods Forest, Black Hills, Canon Beach, and the bridges of Madison County. I have tried new foods such as rocky mountain oysters, fresh coconut, turkey nuts, shave ice, loco moco, cactus, and went wine tasting. I have had a number of experiences such as my first pro baseball game at Wrigley field, watching Tiger Woods play golf, going ice blocking, drive-in movie theatre, seen the seven wonders of Casper, attended the largest Scandinavian festival, spent a few days on a ranch in Montana, toured the Hearst Castle, and I even slept on a kitchen floor once. This hardly scratches the surface of my experiences and I have 36 states and over 8 months to go.

To sum everything up, I have learned about the kindness of people in the United States. Under all kinds of situation people have invited me into their homes and insisted that I make myself at home and even stay longer. I’m blown away by how willing people have been to support my little cross-country trip. So thank you all from the bottom of my heart. And I encourage everyone to be a friend rather than a stranger.

I wish you all an amazing holiday season and miss everyone! But I’m not far away, only a few clicks on the web and a snail mail letter will find me eventually.

Love,
Bugsy

“The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” – G.K. Chesterton

“Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.” – Benjamin Disraeli

“We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.” – Robert Louis Stevenson