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A Visit to Bethlehem

December 2015

A Visit to Bethlehem from In the Blood of Herod and Rome by Robert Earle While Herod continued to brood about which son should succeed him, Archelaus or Antipas, Joanna came to Nicolas of Damascus with disturbing news: the maiden … Continued

London Christmas Staff Party

December 2015

by Bob Baker Each Christmas, the London American staff threw a play and a bibulous feast for the British staff and their families in the Embassy’s big staff room. In 1972 PAO Bill Weld wore a white Stetson and cowboy … Continued

A Most Unusual Christmas Feast

December 2015

by Michael Cotter The summer of 1984, my wife Joanne and I headed off for assignments—our first as a tandem couple—to Kinshasa, capital of what was then Zaire and is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. My parents, inveterate … Continued

Farishta

December 2015

Farishta*, a fictional war memoir written by retired senior Foreign Service officer Patricia McArdle, is now available as an audiobook on Audible, Amazon and I-Tunes. McArdle’s novel, inspired by the year she spent in northern Afghanistan with a British Army … Continued

Christmas Action at the Vatican

December 2015

by Jim Creagan It was Christmas eve of 1988. Gwyn was dressed in her long black gown complete with mantilla and I was in white tie and tails (these were the “uniforms” for US officials accredited to the Holy See). … Continued