Christmas Warmth

On Christmas Eve we hopped upon our trusty chariot, the Decamp Bus 66, for Upper Montclair, New Jersey. We had a glass of wine in front of the fireplace at the home of our friends Holly and Reathel Bean and then walked across the street for a delicious beef tenderloin dinner hosted by my brother Eric, his wife Tracy, and children Jane and Ben. My parents were there for a sleep-over.

I'm proud of my brother Eric, my kid brother, but of course a kid no more. When we were young he liked to watch tv, and guess what, it worked for him because now he writes about the media, and how the media covers, or doesn't cover, politics. His first book, Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush, came out in 2006, and this year he has been writing his second book, The Bloggers on the Bus about the recent Presidential election, which is due to the publisher in mid-January and will be out in May. Eric also writes for Mediamatters.org; this is his blog: http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/


Tracy and Eric.

On Christmas Day we walked over to the Healy's for dinner. Here is Seventh Avenue at 5:00 on Christmas Day, completely deserted.


We traveled to Amsterdam in October with our friends Don and Joyce Healy and their adult children Brian and Mary who are like family to me. They are part of the Jane Street crowd and I have been fortunate to know them, through Ted, since 1985. On Christmas Day they invite some family and friends for dinner. It was warm and wonderful.