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Evansville
Saturday, July 19, 2025

Holiday View

I am rushing through the holiday season. I don’t want this to be the case. I want the Christmas season to be simple, serene, and chaos-free. Instead, my family still is organizing multiple family get-togethers to accommodate various schedules, arranging for a surprise gift for my youngest son, wrapping nearly all the gifts, and buying stocking stuffers – on top of finishing deadlines at work. I don’t want to complain; I treasure the time spent with family and having my oldest son home from college. Nevertheless, it’s a bit much.

As we rush around the dark streets making all these preparations (just yesterday was the shortest day of the year) it is wise to recall a peaceful image – a vision that you can count on to slow your heart rate and calm your mind. For some, that image may be of the Christ Child, asleep in the manger. Perhaps you recall the loving, wrinkled face of a relative who has passed, but whose legacy is remembered, especially at Christmas. Maybe the New Year will bring you to a special destination, and those pleasant thoughts help you focus. Or perhaps you have a mantra, an “Om” or phrase that helps you center in stressful times. (Mine is the epigraph from E.M. Forster’s “Howard’s End” — “Only Connect.”)

My family finds comfort in our pets and it is this image, snapped of our 4-year-old Mountain Cur dog Jed, snoozing in front of the fireplace, that is reminding me to slow down. Jed’s plans for the holiday? Chase the cats around, curl up with them on the heated bathroom floor, sleep in front of the fireplace, bring us his rope toy for play, get a bath, signal front porch deliveries with a bark, and enjoy getting scratched and petted.

Merry Christmas!

▲ Jed gets to rest during the holiday season, while the rest of the family is busy with shopping, cooking, wrapping gifts, and other seasonal “busyness.”
Kristen K. Tucker
Kristen K. Tucker
Kristen K. Tucker formed Tucker Publishing Group, Inc., along with her husband, Todd, in September 1999 and published the first issue of Evansville Living in March 2000. Kristen, publisher and editor of Evansville Living, holds a bachelor’s degree in public relations and English from Western Kentucky University and a master’s degree in liberal studies from the University of Southern Indiana. Kristen has recently served on the board of directors of The Catholic Foundation of Evansville, the Board of Advisors for the IU Medical School Evansville, and Indiana Landmarks. In 2007, she helped found the Women’s Fund of Vanderburgh County. She also is a member of the 125-year-old Social Literary Club. Kristen is the 2003 Athena Award recipient and the 2006 recipient of the Indiana Commission for Women’s Torchbearer Award. Tucker Publishing Group, Inc., magazines have won dozens of awards through the years from the City & Regional Magazine Association, the Advertising Federation of Evansville, the Evansville Design Group, and the Indiana Society of Professional Journalists. A native of Des Moines, Iowa, Kristen moved with her family to Evansville, her father’s hometown, in 1971. She attended Caze Elementary School, and Castle Jr. and Castle Sr. High Schools in Newburgh, Indiana. Kristen and Todd have two adult sons, Maxwell and Jackson. Kristen enjoys walking, travel, Pilates, and reading.

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