Category Archives: Christmas

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Welcoming Ghosts of Christmas at the North Shore Music Theater with David Coffee

December 21, 2019:

And then this happened. Once again having the privilege to speak with David Coffee, Mr. Ebeneezer Scrooge, and tonight congratulating him on his 26th year in this incredible version of A Christmas Carol 🙂 SO good to be back in Beverly to see this again! — celebrating Christmas at North Shore Music Theatre.

David Coffee has played Ebeneezer Scrooge for over 25 years and I have seen this performance about 10 times since 1993.

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Dinner with Mom brings back Memories of Christmas Past

by Robert Gillis
Published In The Foxboro Reporter 12/2018

This past Friday at my weekly visit to Mom, over two helpings of chicken broccoli Ziti, Mom and I caught on news, gossip, and then got down to doing a few things around the house. I always ask Mom to have some tasks for me to; it makes me feel needed, I tell her. We got the Christmas tree up last week and she has already decorated and I spent time rigging up the star to stay in place with a MacGyver solution of a coat hanger.

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2016: Embracing the spirit of Christmas Past, Present and Future, and finding the key to the childhood joy

by Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter and Boston City Paper 12/2016

It’s early December and I am wondering in a store or two, looking at the rows of decorations, wrap, candy and Christmas merchandise lining the shelves. I find myself lost in nostalgia this evening, recalling a time, as a kid, when I would race to the stores and just window shop for hours, looking at all the Christmas decorations and then excitedly continue preparation for Christmas at home.

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Where Are You Christmas? The Christmas Season Doesn’t Start in September

By Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter and the Boston City Paper 1/2016

My grandmother – God rest her soul – had a holiday tradition that was not exactly beloved. EVERY Christmas – without exception – at some point on Christmas Day, she would say, “Well, Christmas is as far away as it ever is.” As I recall, one year she said it while we were still opening presents early in the morning.

Nana – well remembered with love to this day, but not a Christmas person.

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Fun with Facebook: Christmas 2015 edition!

Christmas Still Life - Red And Green Christmas Bulbsby Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter and Boston City Paper December, 2015

Welcome to Christmas fun with Facebook, 2015 edition!

 

Mark Cohen: “December 24th, 9:00PM:   Benny wants ALL the RENT, and I’m starting a film documentary but I’m not sure how to begin because real life is so scary and sad.”

  • Bob Gillis: Well, let me write a funny Christmas column to take your mind off all that for a little while.
  • Mark Cohen: Cool, thanks.
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Be part of the LIGHT this holiday season in Foxboro

12274676_10153413171093547_1147151410462871176_nBy Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter 11/2015

Recently, we had a special Diwali celebration at lunch time at work. Diwali, also known as the “festival of lights,” is an ancient Hindu festival. Among other things, it celebrates the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and hope over despair.

I was very moved by the beauty of the celebration. Many people dressed in beautiful gowns and robes, and they explained the origins of the holiday, how they celebrate it, sang a song, and treated us to AMAZING Indian cuisine.

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A little Christmas miracle as the Foxboro Jaycees decorate Foxboro Common

by Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter 12/2014

This story begins with a very nice affirmation. Christmas miracles – they still happen.

And it should be noted before I go further I swear this is true; and there are witness and photographs!

It all begins this past frosty Saturday after Thanksgiving. As is our tradition for over four decades, the Foxboro Jaycees were up early, shoveling out the storage area for the Nativity Set and holiday lights, loading up the trucks with the (very) heavy plaster figurines, and heading to Foxboro Common to begin our holiday decorating.

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Christmas 2013 at Mom’s house

Christmas Tree

By Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter and Boston City Paper 12/2013

It’s Christmastime, 2013, and Mom has just come home carrying bags of Chinese Food.

The Christmas tree at my Mom’s house is all lit up, reflected in the gorgeous mirror that hanged over my grandmother’s fireplace for many decades.

The tree is an artificial tree; it has been since back in 1976 when I was NOT messing around with the electric cords as usual and I was NOT anywhere near the real tree, when a piece of metal tinsel SOMEHOW leapt into the extension cord at the exact moment the plug somehow got into the socket, causing a brilliant flash of light, exploded the top of the extension cord and filled the room with the smell of ozone.

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A Christmas prayer for the victims of Sandy Hook

by Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter and Boston City Paper 12/2012

All I want to write this week is a goofy op/ed piece making fun of the 12/21/2012 Apocalypse that wasn’t. I want to be funny and have a little Christmas cheer.

But the world DID end last week for a lot of people in Newtown Connecticut.

And last Friday evening, in a Wal-Mart parking lot, I did something somewhat uncharacteristic for me: I burst into tears, listening to the news reports coming in from Sandy Hook Elementary School.

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The National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in Attleboro — it’s more than just Christmas Lights

Note: Originally published 11/28/2012, and one of the most important pieces I have ever written, please note the following:
  • The 2012 concerts noted here have obviously taken place; CLICK HERE FOR THE LA SALETTE WEB SITE for current events
  • I’m happy to report that Father Pat has recovered and looks great and continues his concert series and work at the shrine.
  • The annual lighting continues each year between Thanksgiving and the Sunday before Little Christmas in January!
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Retro-Review “A Christmas Carol” (1951)

by Robert Gillis 1/2012

There have been countless adaptations of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” over the last century. One of my annual Christmas traditions is to watch several of them. This is one of my very favorites…

Version: 1951 (VCI Entertainment)

Note: The film was released in Great Britain under the title, “Scrooge.” United Artists released the film in the States as “A Christmas Carol.”

Scrooge: Alastair Sim

Cast: Kathleen Harrison (Mrs. Dilber), Mervyn Johns (Bob Cratchit), Hermione Baddeley (Mrs.

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A letter to Mom on Christmas Day

Downtown Boston Christmas StarBy Robert Gillis

Sent to Mom Christmas, 2005
And published in the Boston City Paper 11/2011

I thought I would share a letter I wrote to my Mom on Christmas a few years back. I emailed it to her this morning and she loved these wonderful memories, and I thought it would bring a smile to the readers during this Christmas month.

Dear Mom,

Over twenty-five years ago, you, Theresa and I would make our annual Christmas shopping trip into Boston an extremely enjoyable day.

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‘Tis the season to be generous

Christmas Still Life - Salvation ArmyBy Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter and Boston City Paper 12/2011

“I have always thought of Christmas time, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.

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Fun with Facebook: Christmas 2010 edition!

Christmas Still Life - Red And Green Christmas Bulbsby Robert Gillis
published in the Foxboro Reporter and Boston City Paper, 12/2010

Welcome to “Fun with Facebook, Christmas edition…”

Frosty the Snowman: Happy birthday! Hey, I said my first words. But… But snowmen can’t talk or use Facebook! What’s going on??!!

  • Karen: Our snowman came alive! There must have been some magic in that old top hat they found!
  • Professor Hinkle: It’s my hat and I want it back. NOW.

 

Virginia O’Hanlon: I am 8 years old.

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What if “The Christmas Song” were written in 2010?

Downtown Boston Christmas FilenesBy Robert Gillis
Published in the Foxboro Reporter and Boston City Paper

It’s Thanksgiving, Christmas songs are being played 24/7, and one of the most beloved (read: incessantly overplayed) Christmas tunes is, “The Christmas Song”, commonly subtitled “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire” or “Merry Christmas to You”, or, “Oh, by gosh by golly, do they play ANYTHING else this time of year?!” or, “Is it just me, or is it kind of creepy when Natalie Cole sings that song with her dead father?”

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