“Every Year” by Chris Zito

As my wife started putting up a few Christmas decorations yesterday I realized that I hadn’t seen them before.  As a kid my mom had the same decorations in the same spots in the house every year. I was the youngest and wasn’t around during the accumulation phase of her decorating career. This was back when all Christmas decorations, including the tree, cost a nickel.

Can you believe everything pictured totaled nearly $6! Thank God for overtime!

“Shop ‘Til You Don’t” By Chris Zito

In one of the strangest American holiday traditions we once again find people camped out in front of Best Buy for days, women passing wine flasks at 3:30 in the morning, and retail employees working ungodly hours without receiving overtime or hazardous duty pay. Black Friday has arrived.

“Three more hours and I get my ‘Total Waste of Time’ merit badge.”

“We Didn’t Just Stuff the Turkey” By Chris Zito

Sure there was turkey with all the trimmings but it didn’t stop there.  Thanksgiving in my house also meant stuffed artichokes.

Never had one? Sad for you.

“The Cranky One” By Chris Zito

Isn’t five a little young to have a hair across one’s ass?

He didn’t wake up on the wrong side of the bed. More like under it.

“Hey, I Know Stuff!” By Chris Zito

I’m the youngest of a family of high achievers. There are five of us. My sister has her PhD and is a tenured professor at NYU. I have one brother who is a physics professor at another university in New York, another who is a highly decorated, retired Naval Officer and Gulf War veteran, and another who is a published novelist. All of them have a least one degree, a couple of them have several.

You don’t get this stuff by doing bong hits like some guys I am…I mean know.

“Time Flies When You’re Having Vince” By Chris Zito

A day off, really off, is rare when you’re self-employed. You have to force yourself. There’s always something, some writing, some calls, some little fire to extinguish. But after a week of working every night, traveling half the time, and schmoozing more than I like to, it was time to catch up on a little father/son action.

No matter how busy I get, I try to find quality time for the boy.

“They Don’t Make Them Like That Anymore” By Chris Zito

Today my mom would be a rare breed indeed. The Italian housewife. You just don’t see too many four feet tall women in housecoats anymore.

Hey, there’s one! Let’s ask her something!