Happy Holidays!

Old friends, we may answer with confidence, should not be forgotten, as
Mr. Burns knew quite well. We will all raise our voices, linked arm-in-arm on December 31 as the old year fades and a new twelve-month period of unrealized potential dawns, chilly and innocent, on January 1.

We salute the season of holidays – from Thanksgiving to Valentine’s
Day – with this issue of Murray Life. Christmas will take a big bite of our attention, but we’ll acquaint you with New Year’s celebrations from around the world. For some insight into international practices, our thanks to Murray restaurateur Tom Karvounis, MSU student Pedro Monedero-Izquierda, and Rex Valentine, a thirty-year resident of Japan, whorecently retired from a life of honest work despite being younger than your humble editor.

You’re invited to tour some beautiful homes in Murray as the Kappas of the Murray Women’s Club seek to share community with charity again this year. Kathy Hodge speaks out for all our furry friends with a word of
caution about holiday hustle and the wellbeing of pets. Our “Notes ‘n’ Neighbors pages will bring you updates on honors and athletics, with help from the ever present camera of Terry Little.

We’ll go holiday cruising – in safety – thanks to British travel writer Dee Mason, and explore the tasty variety of the sugar cookie with advice from Murray’s favorite foodie, Logan Abbitt. Erin Carrico, Murray’s chief of all things tourist, will take us to nearby Columbus Belmont Park for a look into history, and LBL
naturalist Carrie Szwed will reveal the seasonal secrets of animals who survive the season with “a long winter’s nap.”

Events abound, so keep your schedule up to date, your dining plans on target, and your mind challenged with our helpful calendars, dining guide and puzzle and humor pages. Read closely and you’ll find out more about Christmas trees than you thought possible.

As we prepare for press the clocks are turned back and the evening seems to come too early. It’s all the more
reason to tuck up under a blanket with a good lamp and a copy of Murray Life. After all, it’s not the end of
the year so much as it is the beginning of something new and wonderful.

From our eclectic little group of artists and scribblers to you and yours, may the season be warmed by your
heart and the darkness be dispelled by the smiles of those you love. We’ll see you in 2012, lest auld
acquaintance . . . well, you know.