It’s Christmas morning. All is calm. All is bright. Or something.
Eleven football games were played on Saturday. Three are coming today, for the first time ever on an NFL Christmas.
The first game has significant postseason implications, with the very-much-alive (thanks to Saturday’s results) Packers facing the less-alive-than-three-weeks-ago-but-still-in-good-shape Dolphins. The second game, well, we won’t mention that one.
The third game features the Cardinals hosting a Buccaneers team that is under pressure to remain a game ahead of the Saints and Panthers in the NFC South. And it could be the last time we ever see Tom Brady in a nationally-televised game, especially if they fail to win the division.
The NFL isn’t the only one with gifts today. We’ve brought back the Playmakers free signed and personalized bookplate promotion, for a very limited time. Buy the book, follow the instructions, and your bookplate will arrive, for placement inside your copy of Playmakers. (If you’ve purchased it since December 21, you qualify for the free bookplate.)
Finally -- and you just knew I was going to squeeze this in -- you can read at no charge whatsoever On Our Way Home, a Christmas novel I wrote last year and decided on a lark to post, one chapter at a time throughout late November and December. (Currently, all of it is available.)
On Thursday, I heard from a reader who suffers from severe PTSD. It prevents him from feeling anything, happiness, sadness, or anything in between. He read On Our Way Home, and he said it “touched me emotionally in a way that I have not felt in years.”
Even if no one else ever reads it, that one message was worth every minute spent working on it. Hopefully, more of you will give it a try. It will remain available through the holidays.
Above all else, we wish you a safe and happy holiday season, and a great 2023. We appreciate the time you spend here, especially as more and more options for your attention are constantly emerging.
