BEST AND WORST I'VE SEEN-2010

A city having a sportsgasm after Patrick Kane scores a game winning goal nobody saw to bring the Hawks the Stanley Cup. The celebration reverberated in every corner of the city and the multi day party unprecedented.

Health Care Bill passes. No matter how other parties try to slant it,affordable health care for everyone is never going to be seen as a bad thing by anyone who possess all their faculties.

The environmental disaster that was the gulf oil spill provided a pulpit for every grandstanding politician and a punch line for every pundit but the true scope of the disaster was brought home by the vivid pictures of oil soaked wildlife.

"Curb Your Enthusiasm" reigns as the best comedy on television in my view as it wraps up its 7th season with the Seinfeld reunion that should have been.

"The Office" offers consistent comedy on a weekly basis with a cast that can count itself among the best ensembles in sitcom history. But can they endure minus Steve Carrell in 2011?

Chicago weather forecasters continue to panic peddle the weather whenever a cold spell,heat wave,thunderstorm or snow system approaches the city.The weather should make the news,the news shouldn't make the weather. Jerry Taft in particular seems to understand the understated and presents facts minus the frantic. And may our friend Amy Freeze get a new deal to remain on Fox Chicago.

How do they continue to show up on TV? Cheryl Burton,Jim Rose,Janet Davies ,Karen Jordan...Don't contracts expire anymore?

Biggest election disappointment: Joe Berrios elected despite everyone warning it would be a big mistake. Berrios started hiring relatives shorlty after getting in.

Always nice to find a new local restaurant that deserves a second trip...Antico Forno in Elmwood Park.

Two sold out nights for The Harlem Nights Players as they raise money for St.William Parish in April with a Christmas show.

Meeting Jackie Bange,Lise Dominique and the incredible and vibrant Harry Volkman at the event above.

Incredible friends both loyal and supportive who are my extended family.

Disappointing summer sports particularly on the north side where new ownership tanks and a championship seems further away than ever.

The IPOD Touch. Not often a gift can beome part of a lifestyle but I don't know what I did without this thing.

This year I became much less patient with grouches,grumps,the impolite and overly loud. Age may be catching up to me or maybe I just want some peace and quiet.

"Men Of A Certain Age", the best comedy/drama on the air. Ray Romano ,fresh off "Everybody Loves Raymond" is perhaps the most under rated talent in show business.

Jay Leno went from being a homogenized,gladhanding vanilla flavored talk show host to world class weasel and his ratings reflect america's disdain

People feel sorry for you when they hear you are estranged from a family member but that doesn't always have to be a sad event. Its been two years and the air has never smelled fresher.

Conan O'Brien makes people dislike Jay leno more than many do already,and takes his act to TBS where he has yet to show why he was given the Tonight Show in the first place.

The economy claims "Taste of Elmwood Park" ,a popular west suburban summer festival that brought a community together for decades.

The worst contestant ever in reality TV was a woman on "Big Brother" named Rachel Reilly.

Why does anyone watch George Lopez?

A White Christmas

Wacky new years eve weather as a brisk walk can make you work up a sweat.

And So Another Christmas Passed

You only get so many Christmases and we just spent one of our allotted supply, a sad thought on the night a Christmas closes its two month run.

For all those who complain it was too early to hear that carol,too soon to see that store decoration,premature to take out the box of ornaments,it's all over now and it went by in the flash of an eye. And it always leaves me wanting more.

I write this recollection more for myself than anyone who might see it accidentally or on purpose.

There's no day like Christmas Eve. I'll never work on this day,never do anything I don't want to do. I wait for this one all year. Full of anticipation,a pulpable sense of excitement and cheer it is a day of imagination like no other. I was up bright and early doing housecleaning so Christmas would not enter a cluttered home,when I put things on hold to make what I expected to be a quick trip to CVS and the cemetery to visit my folks. It is they-especially my mom-who are responsible for my deep devotion to all things Christmas and I need to spend a few moments with them . On my trip there it never occurred to me their stones would be under snow. I had an orange ribbon to place by their headstones but I couldn't find them. I got my snow brush out of the car and started clearing snow,searching. I had gym shoes on and I was wet and cold (but at least alive) and everytime I bent over my phone keys would stick and let out a loud tone. I took it out of my pants pocket and put it in my coat pocket. After more attempts to clear snow and locate my parents resting place,I gave up and rode away to CVS,delayed by a long Christmas Eve freight. And once there I realized I had only my empty phone case. No phone.

I left CVS right away and jumped into the car heading back to the cemetery while cautioning myself to stay calm.I was rattled and in a hurry and that's a good recipe for a crash. As it snowed I pictured my phone being covered with snow,being found by someone ,or laying out there waiting for me. It took me 45 minutes to get back there--it would normally take 10 but the longest (and most illegal) freight train in the history of the Christmas season tied up traffic for a mile. Finally back to the cemetery I started digging around for the phone. I couldn't find it,but I DID find my folk's headstones. I couldn't do it anymore .I hoped to flag down a mourner and see if they had a cell phone to call my number.I hoped somewhere beneath the snow the phone would ring and give it's location away. Not a creature was stirring,so I resigned myself to driving home,finding another cellphone and heading back a third time as my Christmas Eve and the things I needed to accomplish before nightfall seemed like it would be tabled,my favorite day laid to waste. I came home and finally located a cell phone and jumped back into the car.Making sure the phone had juice I called my missing phone and it started ringing--INSIDE THE CAR. Wedged between the car seat and the compartment next to it, my phone was not among the buried at the cemetery after all. A third trip avoided and Christmas Eve can resume.

House cleaning done,prescription picked up,decorations tweaked and tightened,I was ready for Christmas.

Each year I am fortunate enough to be invited to a friend's family Christmas party where food flows freely (as does the wine and beer) and the spirit of Christmas abounds. Laughs,recollections,presents and caroling around the fire pit -and this year it was loaded with atmosphere as light snow fell...It's always hard to tear myself away from this annual ritual but I must always be home by 10.

Why? Okay this might seem odd.

Starting in about 1982 or so I have been taping the Christmas Eve broadcast of the local news. I have the top news,weather sports and Christmas features from those broadcasts collected and I can't stop doing it every single year.It is my own personal tradition involving and satisfying no one else but me,but I must continue it though it will almost certainly be nothing important now or in the future. And after that,friends come over pre midnight mass and we have a shot to welcome Christmas,share some cookies and a few more laughs,then head to that traditional church service. This year,we were not at our own church,St.William. They shifted midnight mass to 10 PM, a popular trend in parishes but one I don't accept. Not just for the traditional aspect but because midnight mass figures conveniently in to my Eve activities. And through the light snow we drive about a mile to a brightly decorated house of worship where we pray and give thanks for the same things we have done in previous years at our home parish. Though there are no familiar faces,we're still part of a community that welcomes Christmas and relives the best story ever told from the pulpit.

Once home,I make sure the lights are out,but for one of our trees-a small one that keeps Christmas bright consistently-and go to bed to listen to a radio version of "A Christmas Carol". The morning brings Christmas and we only get so many.

I'm going to spend them wisely and full of good cheer.

WHEN YOU DRIVE THE REINDEER CAR THE WORLD IS YOUR HIGHWAY

Each year around this time, people decorate their hearth and home and I do that as well. But I also decorate my car. If you should see a midnight blue Saturn with an obtrusive muffler lumbering up the avenue with a set of antlers and a big red nose on the front of the grill, behind the wheel will be a little old driver who is semi lively and relatively quick...but it isn't St. Nick. That's me.



A couple of years ago I spotted a car parked in the lot of a liquor store adorned to look like one of Santa's finest and it gave me a chuckle. A veteran of many Christmases, here was a decoration and a display that I had never seen. I found it unique,so when I came across the antlers and nose that would make my car and I rolling Christmas at a local store, I jumped at the chance.



Now,every November this run of the mill Saturn goes from being just another used car to the Reindeer Car. And as we traverse the avenue, pedestrians and my fellow drivers show us the Christmas love. It really is nice to see other motorists from elderly ladies to skinheads smiling at me and using their index finger instead of the middle finger when they spot us. The other day a little girl asked her mom "if that was Santa Claus" as we pulled out of a parking lot. I coaxed a smile out of a gas station attendant and they pretty much despise everyone. My family worries I might get ticketed for being "too deery".



Sometimes,while on a mission, I forget my car is dressed for Christmas. I'll see someone laughing and take the chortles personally. "I am NOT an animal!" Then I remember it's not me...my car actually LOOKS like an animal. The headlights of the car,positioned beneath the cushy red nose,make it appear it's not just a reindeer,but a smiling,toothy one. I have been given the right of way even when the rules of the road said I didn't deserve it. I've been smiled at honked at and stared at and generally been treated the way a beautiful woman in a convertible must be treated all year long. I have grown to look forward to stop lights to see the reaction of people who aren't texting.



Christmas is often referenced as the time when we're all family realizing we're traveling the same road ,strangers become friends and the feeling of brotherhood abounds. On the road I travel in my silly reindeer car, out the windshiled I see that spirit reflected in the faces of the folks who for one moment, while coping with holiday traffic and the stress of the season,have a holiday chuckle. And after the new year when my car is just a Saturn with a noisy muffler, I start shopping for a pair of bunny ears and a snout because this kind of attention is hard to give up.

On twitter,the Reindeer Car will be @deeercar