What's on your mind

  There are so many Christmas specials on television, so so many! My favorites are still some of the oldies from Rankin Bass like "Santa Claus is Comin' to town" and "The Year Without a Santa Claus"  As far as movies go, I like the original "Miracle on 34th Street" but I also enjoy "Home Alone" and "Elf"  Starting this Friday 11/15 we have several specials on each day This post will get you through this weekend. I will post again sometime before 11/17 with another few days worth of shows. Enjoy

  My favorite time of the year is upon us. I love to watch all the holiday specials on television so I am sharing my calendar with you.  Every year I make a spreadsheet with all the specials so that I don't miss my favorites. Hallmark channel is showing Christmas movies every day with so many I do not list them here.  This is the list of Christmas specials airing on television this week. I will be back next week with a list of more. It is still so early in the season that there are not too many on TV yet but as we get closer to December there will be a lot more. I always look forward to watching Home Alone which is set to air on FREEFORM November 15th.  Date Time Show Channel 11/9 3:45 pm The Polar Express TBS 11/9 8:50 pm How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2 hr movie) FREEFORM 11/10 3:00 pm Deck The Halls TNT 11/10 5:00 pm Fred Claus TNT 11/10 7:30 pm Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas TNT 11/10 8:00 pm National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation TBS 11/10 8:00 pm ELF TNT 11/11

This week is teacher appreciation week and I was wondering if parents really appreciate what teachers do for their children? I taught for 35 years and I loved the time I spent with the kiddos, but I see things getting worse every year and that is why I had to retire. I gave so much of my time for my students. I was there to support them in every way both in and out of the classroom, but things have been changing for the past 5 years and not for the better. Students seem to be able to do whatever they want with no consequences and more and more parents blame the teacher when something goes wrong.  To all those wonderful parents that support the teachers, THANK YOU SO MUCH. A child's education is so much better when the parents and teachers can work together.

 I love all sports but baseball is my favorite. Win or Lose, I am a faithful Red Sox fan so February is a great month because it is the start of a new season. last year was terrible so there is no place to go but up for my Red Sox. I was sad to see Dugie get traded but with his issues last year (getting benched two games) the trade wasn't a big surprise. My hopes for this year in addition to winning the world series are:  Bobby Dalbec gets a place on the team and doesn't spend all his time on the Woo Sox again Jarren Duran has even more stolen bases than last year and that he continues to turn singles into doubles with his speed on the bases Cora figures out that Devers sucks at Third base! He made so many mistakes there last year. I say make him the DH instead.  Trevor Story has a great healthy year. I have high hopes for this guy. Lastly, I hope the pitching goes as well as I think it can. We have a lot of capable guys. I want to thank NESN for broadcasting the Fort Myers rep

Change can be tough, but sometimes it is for the best. I have been going to Dana Farber in Brighton for  a little over 3 years. Today I made the change to Foxboro Dana Farber. I made the change because I was sick of struggling in the Boston traffic and all the money I spent on parking was adding up. I was nervous about leaving my team of doctors and nurses that have been taking care of me for so long, but I am so glad I made the change. I had a 15 minute commute today with very little traffic and I didn't have to pay a dime for parking. My doctor was knowledgeable and very easy to talk to and all my nurses were extremely friendly. I am glad that Foxboro is my new home once a month.  If anyone else out there is on the fence I recommend you make the change to Foxboro. So easy to get to, lots of easy free parking, and very pleasant staff. The facility is so much bigger than what I am used to and so bright. A plus is that there are plenty of restaurants and stores to visit after my tre

 Twice a week during January and February I travel back to the high school where I taught for so many years to watch high school basketball. I thoroughly enjoy these games and I love that I do the official home team scorebook. Scoring sports is so much fun. I really miss the days when my own children did high school sports/competitions but they are all grown now.  Tonight the boys basketball team is having first responders/military appreciation night.  This is close to my heart as my son is both. He is police and Army National guard and his fiancé is a nurse. Thank you to the team for recognizing these special people. The timing is perfect too as January 9th was law appreciation day. Let's hope we get the win tonight. Go Lancers!