During this time, when wars in Gaza and Ukraine continue to rage, we realize just taking the time to slow down, be warm and share holiday meals and gifts with friends and family under twinkling lights is something many people around the world will not experience.

We’re deeply grateful to live in a place with delicious, local food to share and clear, clean water to drink, and community members who look out for each other.

Our greatest wish is peace on Earth. And we will do our best to do our part.

As always, thank you for reading The Durango Herald. Over the holidays, we hope you have some downtime to read longer a different section in the Herald that you normally skim over with a warm drink by your side, and your feet up in toasty socks.

Those simple pleasures are what we like best. During the holidays, we tend to reminisce about how we celebrated and played, when all the neighborhood kids were outside on snowy days, only to go inside to defrost fingers and toes.

So it gives us much pleasure to introduce the following guest column from former Durango resident Michael Munroe about memories made on a Christmas Day that turned out to be more than was expected.

– The Durango Herald editorial board