The Christmas that went wrong: The day was saved by the new friend I’d made on a drunken night out
I was alone in New York during the pandemic, in the aftermath of a breakup and unable to go home. A Korean family taught me to believe in the kindness of strangers
Like many Jewish families, the Wolfsons take Christmas extremely seriously. Latkes and smoked salmon are served before homemade cranberry sauce and brussels sprouts. My dad’s hand-painted menorah, which he made during the ceramics cafe boom of the early 2000s, sits proudly underneath the Christmas tree.
As such, I had never missed a Christmas with the family – although there had been some near misses. In 2019, we spent Christmas by my dad’s hospital bed after his stroke – us sipping on hospital canteen gingerbread lattes, him having Christmas dinner in the guise of vanilla-scented protein, fed through a tube. In 2020, I saw my family only from six feet away, double-masked and on the doorstep. I delivered presents, but they were not opened for a few days, to let any stray virus dissipate.
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The Christmas that went wrong: I spent the day with three small children in an eerily deserted airport
With a seriously ill mother in Scotland and an arduous journey to France via Amsterdam, it had the makings of a nightmare day for everyone. I was always a gung-ho travelling mum. With a sailor for ...The Guardian - 1d -
The Christmas that went wrong: The paramedics couldn’t find my heartbeat – it wasn’t looking good
I thought I’d pulled a muscle but ended up having my appendix whipped out and woke up having a drug-induced wonderful Christmastime. ’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house not ...The Guardian - 1d -
The Christmas that went wrong: I was 19 – and my best friend and a date stood me up
I’d just flown in to New York and it was all going horribly wrong. Then a fortune teller told me something bad was about to happen .... I was in New York to visit my friend, M, who had moved there ...The Guardian - 2d -
Weekly quiz: Which Christmas dinner ingredient went up in price?
How closely have you been paying attention to what's been going on in the world over the past seven days?BBC News - 2d -
The Christmas that went wrong: I cooked curry for my new girlfriend’s family – and made them all cry
Bridget’s parents liked Indian food, so long as it wasn’t too spicy, and invited me to cook a festive dish. Tears soon began streaming down their faces. I had been seeing my girlfriend for six ...The Guardian - 2d -
New Friends After 50? Yes, Please!
The people in our lives are a dynamic constellation.The New York Times - Dec. 12 -
Restaurant saves wedding couple's day after storm
A couple whose wedding was cancelled got their fairytale ending when a stranger stepped in.BBC News - Dec. 9 -
‘I’d always enjoyed alcohol – but my mother’s sudden, violent death made me a heavy drinker overnight’
When she died, my life plunged into darkness and I turned to the bottle. It quickly became clear to me how trauma could change a moderate habit into a dangerous one. On 17 March 2020, an otherwise ...The Guardian - Dec. 8 -
Where House progressives' new leader thinks Democrats went wrong: From the Politics Desk
In an interview, Texas Rep. Greg Casar, the new chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, details where Democrats went wrong in the 2024 election.NBC News - Dec. 5
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