![\"A](\"https:\/\/alexdemille.com\/nelson\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/a-note-from-nelson-banner.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. And also a good Hanukkah, which came early
\nthis year.<\/p>\n
The Jewish side of my family has a great Hanukkah tradition; they all give a book to each
\nother on the first night of Hanukkah. Then two books on the second night, four on the
\nthird night, eight on the fifth, and so forth until the eighth and last night when they give 64
\nbooks to each other\u2014for a total of 117! What a great tradition! Everyone wins\u2014especially
\nthe authors.<\/p>\n
The Twelve Days of Christmas should be celebrated the same way. That would be a total
\nof 1,032 books on the twelfth day of Christmas\u2014times the number of people in your
\nfamily. Hey, better than a partridge in a pear tree. Right?<\/p>\n
Anyway, the holidays can be as much stress as they are fun, but if you remember that
\nyou\u2019re celebrating Jesus\u2019 birthday, and if you keep the wine rack and liquor cabinet
\nstocked, you\u2019ll get through it. These are what we call First World problems. I spent
\nChristmas 1967 in Vietnam. We prayed that the truce would hold for 24 hours and that the
\nhelicopter delivering Christmas dinner to the troops in the field would make it. I try to
\nremember this every year.<\/p>\n
And in conclusion, I want to wish all my readers\u2014even my critics\u2014a happy and joyous
\nChristmas. And for the New Year, good health, good friends, good times, good libations,
\nand above all peace on Earth, good will toward men. And a very big thank you to the men
\nand women in our armed forces, especially those far from home. We are with you.<\/p>\n
See you next year.<\/p>\n
Sincerely,![\"Nelson](\"https:\/\/alexdemille.com\/nelson\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/nelson-demille-signature.png\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. And also a good Hanukkah, which came early this year. The Jewish side of my family has a great Hanukkah tradition; they all give a book to each other on the first night of Hanukkah. Then two books on the second night, four on the third night, eight […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletter"],"yoast_head":"\n