The season of cookies, cake, and cocktails was coming to a close to be replaced by calisthenics and resolutions.

We watched the white rabbit hop across the field wishing we could join him and maybe even stay in Wonderland for just a few minutes, anything but return to the real world.

Eileen was always saddened by the obits due to her desire to have known those who passed and to have heard their life stories told in their own voices.

Sometimes, even years after their deaths, he would begin to dial his parents' number thinking how nice it would be to hear their voices.

As the end of the year rolled round she measured her accomplishments against her goals like a debauched gambler at a broken-down race track.

"There's no accounting for taste," he said, throwing the torch onto the priceless paintings heaped in the middle of the square.

The snow, like the white robe of the Ghost of Christmas Past, muffled the sound from within of carols played on an old Victrola.

For a brief moment we shared in the joyous miracle before returning to the business of hate.

Standing in the cold, his breath rolling out in waves and rising into the bleak sky, he thought, for the first time in his life, about the homeless who were forced to spend the winter outside and then he stepped back into his warm home and promptly pushed these thoughts aside.

Sometimes during the holidays it wasn't green and red but the blues Alice felt.

The swamp always bubbled back up to the surface no matter how they tried to drain it.

In the year of our Lord 2017, the old dog quickly wearied of having to constantly calm his owner down every time CNN was on and soon became an expert on U.S. politics.

"It's like we're living in two totally different worlds—mine is one of cutting-edge technology and inclusiveness and yours is anti-science and tribalism," Amy told her cousin just before the line went dead.

Through a crack in the beat up shade she saw all she cared to of the world beyond her bedroom.

The birds sang a sad song of lost loves and broken eggs.

The nation had become a snake greedily devouring itself.

As Greg got older his obsessions began to revolve around the weather, his bodily functions, and his cats whose antics kept him occupied for hours on end.

Sara swung wildly between believing she was invincible and dying from a host of strange and rare diseases.

The political pendulum began its slow swing back in the other direction.

It was easier to yell at the talking heads on her television and bemoan the state of the world from the leather couch than it was to do anything about it.

We were living through the death throes of an empire.

Quips, bon mots, and repartee were his stock and trade, but Ivan longed to be a philosopher whose deep thoughts would be celebrated through the ages.

As Ellen got older she stopped listening to new music, preferring to wallow in the nostalgic tunes of her youth.

The three things he trusted most in this world—John Birch, bourbon, and his Mossberg 500 pump-action shotgun—all let him down in the end.

Despair was becoming the go-to emotion.

They told me to grow up but I didn't know how.

Language had become just another tool for obfuscation.

"Memories of these adventures you're sharing will outlast your friendships," the instructor told us amidst a smattering of nervous laughter.

The unsung heroes and forgotten mavericks had been spat upon by tyrants and government cogs and yet they persevered.

Affirmations were a drug for Dave and social media was the syringe.

After the partition, Neal and his family, dyed-in-the-wool Democrats, found themselves in the minority within the Greater Red District.