Jim Priest is CEO of Goodwill Industries of Central Oklahoma and can be reached at jpriest@okgoodwill.org. New Year’s Resolve Years ago I taught a Sunday School class in December on the topic of setting goals for the new year.

Recently a man we know died in his nineties, after serving in the military until he retired and then had a long career as a police officer until retirement again. Jimmy covered his beat not in a patrol car or on foot, but on the back of a horse.

An answer to the 8-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon’s written inquiry, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” has been printed in newspapers throughout the nation. One of the most beloved Christmas stories traces its origins to a picturesque street on Manhattan’s Upper West Side neighborhood.

An 8th grade education in 1895 (Note: I promised Christine Provence, my 10-1112 grade English teacher at Holdenville High School, that I would run this column every year. She liked it better than any of the seemingly endless papers I wrote in her classes).

Hope on a sinking ship This is a “but for” story that could have resulted in me never being born, never knowing my Dad, never writing this post… Dad was in the Army in WWII and was sent to Camp Miles Standish outside Boston in the Fall of 1942.

I am convinced of a truth after living all these years on this earth. Simply and baldly stated, there are some people who have bathed themselves in misery for years. And they truly do not want anyone to hand them a big thick towel to dry off.

Slow Down the Christmas rush I’d like to invite you to join my campaign to slow down the Christmas rush. To being, I have a suggestion this holiday season that will, hopefully, entertain both you and your family in a way to which you are unaccustomed.

Little Jimmy was one of those eight-year-boys who seem to be able to find a mud puddle in the Sahara Desert. And within seconds have his body covered with it. Sandy hair falling over mischievous bright eyes, he was an intelligent, energetic kid who had a boundless love of life.

Memories of Thanksgiving Past remains Thanksgiving is just TOO much for one column so here goes another called Thanksgiving II. Thanksgiving has always ranked high on my personal list of favorite holidays and I feel a certain pain of regret when I say it is not my FAVORITE holiday.

I remember my first job as a stock boy at a downtown department store when I was in high school. My main tasks were lifting heavy boxes, unpacking crates, and doing various other jobs. It was an important experience for me.