Jerome is a writer, musician, philosopher, free-thinker, and teacher with a deep appreciation for all things avant-garde. He enjoys stimulating conversations, captivating novels, killer lattes, and sleeping late. He grew up in the Black Hills of Western South Dakota and studied English and music at a small, state university. He has an intense love of words and a profound fear of heights. Jerome has been described by his friends as a “hummingbird on caffeine.” His youngest sister affectionately calls him “butt nugget.” To his family, he is the “weird one” and his father is convinced that his mother dropped him on his head during infancy. He is a painfully shy introvert who is evolving into an extrovert through a most amazing journey of self-discovery and sometime neurotic behavior. Jerome now makes his home on the West Coast where he undergoes “culture shock therapy” on a daily basis.He happily shares his life with his partner Freddie and their dog, Butch. He is practicing radical acceptance of himself and others. His views of the world and personal, biased opinions of life are the inspiration for his blog. http://bohemianspeaks./ en-us Webligo BlogHoster <p>I'm not ashamed to say that I love Christmas! In fact, I'm somewhat of a Christmas junkie. You'll never hear me complaining about the stores putting out their Christmas wares in October. For me, this is such a magically wonderful time that it seems almost shameful to not let it last a bit longer. Sadly, few of my friends share my sentiments. I might classify a few as bona fide &quot;humbugs.&quot; I know some of these folks don't have happy memories of the holidays, and they associate Christmas with family drama and dysfunction. I guess a bit of &quot;Scrooginess&quot; may be justified under such circumstances.</p> <p>I'm fortunate to have wonderful memories of Christmas. I am sure that some of my childhood Christmases held their share of disappointment when I didn't receive everything that was on my Christmas list . Nevertheless, as an adult, I realize that gift-exchanges aren't all that important and that this season has a whole lot more to offer than colorful wrapping paper and bows. </p> <p>One of my favorite things about Christmas is the music. I don't know how many times I've sung &quot;O Come All Ye Faithful&quot; in my 38 years of life, and I still get goosebumps at the beginning of Midnight Mass when the choir and congregation begin singing &quot;Adeste Fidelis.&quot; At various times of my life, I have been more or less &quot;religious&quot; depending entirely on my life circumstances of the moment. It's funny that even during those periods in my life when I have truly lacked faith or questioned the existence of God, I have still found myself in church on Christmas eve. Perhaps the spirit of Christmas is more powerful than any or our doubts.</p> <p>Christmas is truly a time for believing... It's a time to believe in Santa Claus... To believe in Peace on Earth... And to believe in the power of love. It's a time when our hearts are called home, maybe not the home of our childhood, but to anyplace where we are surrounded by those who love us best. The holidays are a time for celebrating all of our favorite things. This season you'll find me enjoying a few of my favorite things:</p> <p><strong>Christmas Music</strong>: A Christmas Album--Amy Grant... The Gift--Jim Brickman... Wintersong--Sarah McLachlan... The Animals' Christmas--Art Garfunkle and Amy Grant... The Christmas Song--Nat King Cole...A Christmas Album--Barbra Streisand</p> <p><strong>Christmas Reading</strong>: A Christmas Memory--Truman Capote... The Best Christmas Pageant Ever--Barbara Robinson... A Christmas Carol--Charles Dickens... The Gift of the Magi--O.Henry... A Visit form Saint Nicholas--Clement C. Moore</p> <p><strong>Tastes of Christmas:</strong> Eggnog, warm apple cider with cinnamon, popcorn balls, fudge, sugar cookies, candy canes, chocolate, marzipan</p> <p><strong>Christmas TV:</strong> A Charlie Brown Christmas... Miracle on 34th Street... Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer... It's a Wonderful Life... The Little Drummer Boy... </p> <p>Happy Holidays!!!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Sponsored by EnterTo.com the first REAL <a href="http://mail.enterto.com/signup.html">spam free email</a><br /> <br />Click Below to discover and share content from anywhere on the web<br /> <script src="http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js" type="text/javascript"></script> http://bohemianspeaks.3steps.com/5024/