Snow Blows

I’m going to put this out there. I hate snow. I wasn’t always like this. As a kid, snow was awesome! I’d play outside for hours in it, until my mittens were soaked through and frostbite was setting in. My cheeks and lips would be chapped from the cold and breathing would be difficult but…

Auld Lang Syne at Kelly’s Tavern

The holidays would not end at the Kelleher household without the ultimate New Year’s Eve bash held every year at my Mom and Dad’s bar and restaurant. Kelly’s Tavern, located at 46th Street and 7th Avenue in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was one of those neighborhood joints that played host to the usual suspects’ day in and…

The Christmas Chronicles: Christmas Days Then and Now

Since our family always celebrated our Christmas on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day was a much more subdued affair. For a long time, when she had a larger house, my oldest sister Verda would play hostess and have us all over for an enormous feast! The house would be crammed with homemade cookies and candies, opened…

The Christmas Chronicles: Santa/Dad

As a child, I knew there were some magical places in Kenosha that I only really got to see at Christmastime. I suppose I was aware these places existed throughout the year but at the holiday season they took on a new glow and meaning for me. There was something completely awesome about the pristine…

The Christmas Chronicles: Traditions of the Heart

The first Christmas after my Dad passed away was hard. He died in the summer of 84 and even though he had been sick his passing still came with the shock and emptiness that you feel when a most important person in your life is suddenly just gone. My Mom and I were left at…

The Christmas Chronicles: A Kelleher Christmas Eve

Though we didn’t have a fireplace or fancy mantle, Christmas stockings were always hung carefully in our house. Ours were carefully placed on the backs of chairs in the living room and the placement of those spectacular receptacles of joy was not something to be taken lightly. We didn’t just toss it over a chair…

The Christmas Chronicles: Santa’s Not Always Watching

I still believe in Santa Claus and will always believe until the day I take my last breath. Over the years, how and what I believe about the jolly elf has changed but my faith remains firm that his spirit is alive and well during the Christmas season. Like most kids, I was always told…

The Christmas Chronicles: Early Years

Christmas, for me, has long been the very best time of year. There is some magic in the air that gets to me well before Thanksgiving and lasts far into spring. If I had my way, Christmas would be celebrated every month with as much hoopla as it deserves. I am the anti-Grinch! Even as…

Chicago Chronicles 4: The Holiday Edition

Our first holiday season in Chicago should have been exciting and new. I guess it was, for the most part. But Scott and I were very young and fresh out of our parents’ homes, so we each met the holiday season with a healthy touch of melancholy. For me, the holidays were always full of…

Chicago Chronicles, Part 3:

When Scott was working at the Palmer House, he soon found out he hated it. One day, he just stopped going. I, being of sounder mind I guess, was convinced he should at least put in some kind of notice but he refused. The next day the phone started ringing. Scott would not answer it…