To know Brian was to sit and laugh with him huddled by a log fire, especially at Christmas. – Kevin Shortsleeve (Brian’s brother, and editor of a work in progress, The Best of Gunk’holing.)

“Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns.” ~ William Wordsworth, Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey (1798)

Reprinted from Cape Cod LIFE December 1987/January 1988.

If the personal and professional  stepping-stones of ‘87 developed with the fascination of fireworks, then-surely the holidays are the grand finale. Pianist and singer Tom Lehrer offers a Christmas carol entitled, “Angels we have heard on high, tell us to go out and buy.”

I prefer to shop for handcrafted artifacts in crafts­ shop barns heated by wood stoves, decorated with antique ornaments and furnished with benches from old sleighs. But, I just know my brother Joe will want a blender, or a pocket-size television.

Instead, I am forwarding to him a letter which I received from a Rhode Island company selling time­sharing, “Congratulations, Mr. Shortsleeve, you have definitely been awarded one of the prizes in our major prize category. To claim your prize you need only visit our resort and spend three days in solitary confine­ment with our top salesman…”

Although I’m not a good shopper, I do love to deco­rate for the holidays. Last year, counting both inside, and out, I hung almost 1,000 lights-half of them on the boat. I thought the Lady Carline wanted to be included in Christmas, so I had her pulled into the backyard, completely outlined the hull in small white lights and lit a tree of all colors on her deck.