Cooking the NYTimes and Other Assorted Retirement Activities

I love telling stories, and this is one of my personal favorites.  It's about my dad and the Fake Christmas tree. My dad, Joseph Walter Parys, Sr., died on November 29, 2005.  While many believe their father was one of a kind, I know this to be true about my dad.  He was a Classic.  Like a classic car, one that is displayed because so few were originally produced.  He was a preserved classic car, not restored, because there is nothing quite like the off-the-line, new car smell that remains for years beyond.  That was my dad. I have fond memories, a la A Christmas Story , of going to pick out the Christmas tree at a local tree lot.  My mom would bring down the boxes of fragile ornaments stored in the hall closet. Because the tree was prominently displayed in the front window, furniture re-arrangement was required.  All of this caused me and my sisters and brother to dance around with excitement,  driving both parents into a mix of craz...