A daily habit of mine is reading the obituaries from my old hometown paper, the Press & Sun-Bulletin of Binghamton, New York. It’s the only piece I read from said paper, and the only real news I ever get from home.

The list is usually about 20-25 names long. I’m always pleased to see that just before Christmas the list shrinks by some mystical force that keeps people alive during this most wonderful time of the year. Today’s list? Eight!

With apologies to those who’ve known this not to be 100% accurate, Christmas is just something worth living for.