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I love seeing all the Christmas pictures and paintings my Facebook feed. Houses are beautifully decorated inside and out and spotlessly clean. Children are well-behaved and looking right at the camera. So are the pets, for that matter! Of course, Christmas for most of us - or at least for me - has little resemblance to these images of perfection. Maybe that's why I like "A Charlie Brown Christmas" so much. He tries so hard and can never seem to get it quite right. I don't...
When people tell you time flies, it’s true. Just when we settle into a routine, just when we start to feel at home, it decides to sprint ahead, leaving us wondering where the days have gone. That’s how I’m feeling right now as I prepare to study abroad in London. I’m only a junior, but next semester, I’ll be halfway across the world, trading the red brick buildings of Indiana University for the historic streets of London. While I’m extremely excited for the new adventures, there’s a quiet disbelief, too. How did I get her...
Twinkling lights charming passersby outside and a roaring fire warming guests inside are scenes that fuel joy and fond feelings this time of year. But letting lights burn too hot near anything that could catch fire or leaving a fireplace fire or candles unattended are safety hazards that can quickly turn a happy holiday season into a tragic one. According to the National Fire Prevention Association, U.S. fire departments respond to almost 800 home fires started by holiday decorations or Christmas trees each year. These fires...
Half of my dining room table is covered with Thanksgiving and fall decorations that I need to pack away before the tree goes up this weekend. I am already woefully behind in my Christmas shopping, with only a few stocking stuffers purchased and too many question marks, rather than gift ideas, by the names on my list. And we never took a selfie of the three of us this weekend in Saugatuck, so now our Christmas card photo is up in the air. Ahhh, the holidays. In my annual “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and e...
I think that the world’s best Thanksgiving must be, Thanksgiving in Florida on Siesta Key. Thanksgiving in Florida with nine kids, to boot: Our three kids, six cousins, and way too much cute. My wife’s mom and dad, plus her brother and sis, Their spouses, and me — family vacation bliss! We went for the blue skies and powder-white sand. We had a full week of relaxation planned. We didn’t foresee the problem we’d have here: That nine kids will come with nine kids’ worth of gear....
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday behind us, the Christmas shopping season is well under way. The ambitious among us already might have crossed all their names off their list and started wrapping. Some might have a few presents purchased, with more to go. And then there are those who have yet to buy a single gift. Gulp. There’s only 19 shopping days left! But there’s no need to panic. People who shop right here in Hinsdale can avoid driving up and down ramps in large parking lots and standing in long lines at stores in the m...
It's November in Hinsdale and you know what that means: CHRISTMAS IS HERE! I always marvel at how fast halls are decked and stockings are hung in our village mere hours after Halloween candy bowls are emptied, but our family takes a slightly slower approach. I'm not saying I haven't checked our lights to make sure all bulbs are functioning or sorted decorations, but Thanksgiving is the real MVP around here. It's not so much about the food (though my mom's twice-baked potatoes...
“A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues.” — Cicero As we sit at the table on Thanksgiving, many will take time to list all the things for which they are grateful. In what has become an annual tradition at the paper, we dedicate this space today to name all the things for which we — and all Hinsdaleans — can be thankful, one for each day leading up to and including the holiday. Nov. 1 — the loved ones we’ve lost and remember today, All Saints’ Day Nov. 2 — anyone who had th...
Allowing the village to pick and choose homes in Hinsdale to get special treatment at the expense of taxpayers is totally inappropriate and un-American. Specifically, in regard to the Frank Lloyd Wright house at 121 S. County Line, a simple Google search returns pages of privately funded organizations designed to help save and rehab Frank Lloyd Wright homes. I suggest the owners look to those organizations for assistance rather than their neighbors’ wallets. As for other owners of multi-million dollar “historically sig...
Ever notice how your morning alarm feels like an assault on your senses? From doom-scrolling news headlines to battling rush hour traffic (or school drop-off), stress seems to shadow our every move. Doctors warn us about the deadly effects of stress, including heart disease, high blood pressure, and compromised immunity. But what if we're looking at stress all wrong? Perhaps it's not stress that hurts us; it's how we respond to it. When we react by reaching for that bottle of...
I was really happy to see an article about Open Water in your latest edition and amazed to see that their sales director, Toral Gandhi, lives right here in Hinsdale and has been successful in getting local stores to stock it. Our family has been buying Open Water for many years through their website — we buy a couple of cases at a time for entertaining — and it will be great to be able to pick it up instead. I’ve often thought that they would be perfect for parents bringing refreshments to their kids’ sporting events....
"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." - Matthew 19:14 Baby Angel made an unexpected entrance to the world Aug. 8 in Hinsdale. His mom, Bernice, is part of the cleaning crew at Zion Lutheran Church's Early Childhood Education Center. She was working when she went into labor four months early. "We have that 15-foot Jesus banner welcoming everybody that comes to the ECEC and that's right where she had...
After the purchasing frenzy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday on Dec. 3 gives us all the chance to do something to help others. Hinsdale is home to seven large nonprofits that work to do everything from feeding the hungry to supporting families facing a cancer diagnosis. Any would benefit from a financial gift on Giving Tuesday, and many offer others ways to help. Just visit their websites for more information. • Assistance League Chicagoland West, www.alcw.org • Candor Health, www.candorhealthed.org • HCS F...
Good communication is an important skill that I'm working on. My mom reminds me that there is room for improvement. How do I get better at this skill though? For teens, text messaging and social media are the vehicles for conversation. A quick message or scrolling Instagram is how I get all my information for weekend plans, including events happening around school. Posts on what's happening and who is hanging out with who are pretty typical for teenagers. From those around...
Watching people process last week's election (and by people, I mean talking heads on TV and friends on Facebook) has been interesting. Some are elated, cocky even, that former President Trump was elected to a second term. Others are dismayed. One woman I know posted that she could barely look at her children, knowing how horrific their future would be. Maybe I'm naive, but I have more confidence in our country than I do fear of Trump. If he tries to become a dictator, which I...
November is National Diabetes Month, a designation designed to draw attention to diabetes and on taking action to prevent health problems related to the disease. As detailed by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases at www.niddk.nih.gov., diabetes occurs when one’s blood glucose, also called blood sugar, is too high. The disease affects about 38 million Americans, both adults and youth, but an estimated one in five people with diabetes don’t know they have it. An estimated 97.6 million American a...
*sigh* What a big week. This column was written three weeks ago back in October. It’s challenging to prepare something for a future date, especially for a week which will have been historic, and without knowing where we, as a society, will be at that moment. At the time of writing, nothing is certain except that at the time of publication, it is likely that half of us feel relieved and excited about the outcome of election events earlier this week — and half of us feel dev...
Hinsdale’s Richard Munson has authored a long list of books on seemingly disparate topics — from biographies on Jacques Cousteau and Nikola Tesla to examinations of the $210 billion electric industry and how technology is changing the food we eat. But if you look closely, there’s a thread that ties them all together. “I’m just quite fascinated with innovators, people who bring new ideas to life,” he told me last week. The latest innovator who captured his interest is one of ou...
This Veterans Day issue marks the 10th year in a row we’ve honored veterans in a special section. We started with 72 individuals in 2015. This year, we’re running information on three times as many — 216 — men and women who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces, breaking last year’s record of 207. We have space to include only a limited amount of information about these brave men and women — when and where they served, any honors they received and their connection to Hinsdale. Many are residents or former residents....
I have lived in DuPage County for over 30 years, and Baron Leacock has earned my trust and support. Baron is running for the DuPage County Board, District 3. I encourage you to vote for him. I have gotten to know Baron, his wife and children. Baron grew up in Darien and graduated from Harvard University undergraduate and Columbia University for law school. Now he lives in Hinsdale with his lovely wife, and they are raising their three children here. Baron is like many of us who love our community and want to keep it safe and...
I lost a great friend this month, as did many in the Hinsdale area. But Dr. Brian Moran was much more than just a friend. He spent much of his life working with, and saving thousands of men’s lives, including mine. His dedication to those with prostate cancer was world renown. And his commitment to encouraging all men to get tested was relentless. I hope every man reading this will consider getting tested in Brian’s honor. Thankfully I caught mine in time, and it eventually directed me to my old friend, who promptly sav...
Early on a recent Sunday morning, I walked to the train station. It was a beautiful day, and I was meeting my son Will in the city. I carried a big plastic bag with me; in it were handmade pieces of love. I was on my way to watch Will’s girlfriend, Holly, run the Chicago marathon. I had crafted posters in her favorite colors, red and green, (with feathers no less!), to hold when she ran by. They were rolled up in my bag, along with posters for my nephew Alex, who was also r...
Please bring your rotting pumpkins and gourds to The Community House on Saturday, Nov. 9. Don’t throw them in the trash! Smash them in the Hinsdale Rotary “Pumpkin Smash” bin that will be located at The Community House parking lot, 415 W. Eighth St. in Hinsdale, from 8 a.m. to noon. Why do this? It’s pretty simple. If you throw your pumpkins and gourds in the trash, Republic Services will haul them away, load them into the Republic landfills, and there, your pumpkins and gourds will rot and create methane gas. Methane gas is...
I had the privilege of serving as the moderator for a panel discussion on domestic violence at Pillars Community Health’s Bags and Bubbles event Sunday at The Elm in La Grange. I know about Pillars mostly through Buddy’s Place, which we attended as a family after Ainsley’s grandmother died and she struggled with the loss. I know a little about Pillars’ women’s shelter, Constance Morris House, from dropping off donations there. But I learned a lot about domestic violence...
Tuesday is Election Day, the most momentous occasion that our representative democratic republic observes. The United States is a democracy because its citizens govern themselves. It is representative because people choose elected officials by free and secret ballot. Many of us may take this regular exercise in self-governance for granted, to the point that participation in it feels less than urgent or meaningful. We respectfully dissent from such an orientation. Voting is the lifeblood of our American identity, and the more...
