On Dec. 21, 2005, the Coeur d'Alene Press published a column by Kerri Rankin Thoreson, written two months after the death of her father, former Kootenai County commissioner Ron Rankin. She was hurting, as many people are this Christmas Eve:
"My father was Santa Claus, the only Santa I knew for my whole entire life. This year would be my first Christmas without him and I couldn’t bear the thought. Every song and jingle bell and twinkling Christmas light broke my heart a little bit. It had been only two months since he’d passed away and I asked my childrens’ and grandchildrens’ understanding that I just wanted to spend the holiday without family or fanfare. I urged them to stay at home... making and celebrating new traditions. My husband and I would spend a quiet Christmas at a lodge in Montana, away from everything familiar and sad." Full column here.
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.
couldn’t bear the thought. Every song and jingle bell and twinkling Christmas light broke my heart a little bit. It had been only two months since he’d passed away and I asked my childrens’ and grandchildrens’ understanding that I just wanted to spend the holiday without family or fanfare. I urged them to stay at home... making and celebrating new traditions. My husband and I would spend a quiet Christmas at a lodge in Montana, away from everything familiar and sad." Full column here.
