An unexpected visit a.k.a. Where the Orange blog went

One of the key points in my “Culture in Process” article about the “Christmas Orange and Gifting,” published a few days before Christmas Eve, 2025, was this quote:  “A cherished memory from a gift connects us deeply to the past and our expressions of friendship and love today.”

Well, as if I were being tested or maybe a little bit authenticated, I had the pleasure of running unexpectedly into a friend on Christmas Eve.

I was driving home from a decades-old-tradition of having breakfast with my long-time college pal on Christmas Eve morning and reveling in the fun of our lively conversation when something jogged my mind back to reality.  I had a major stop to make before I got home to prepare for tomorrow’s dinner, but what was it?  I knew I had something to pick up before noon.  Finally, about a mile away from home, it came to me. Yes, the most important part of the Christmas menu—the tenderloin.

I made a quick U-turn since I had already passed the grocery store where my pick-up order would be waiting and went directly to the butcher who had prepared and packed the meat.  While there, in a split second, I turned to look at the shelf behind me for last minute Items I may need and there pushing her cart was a friend I hadn’t seen in awhile.  She did a double take and turned around to say “hi,” but the first thing that came out was,“Thank you.”  Not sure what she meant, I must have look perplexed, and she proceeded to explain how many things came to her mind when she read “Culture in Process” in my blog.   Truly excited to let me know how it brought back the many memories of family traditions, she thanked me and described her family holiday list of “must do’s.”  We chatted a bit longer about how important holidays are for family are—and all the preparations that go into them—and bid each other a wonderful, joyous season.

I was truly stunned and thrilled to know a real person had even read just the title of my article, let alone the whole thing (soon after it was emailed too), not to mention being in the same place at that second.  How uncannily coincidental—same time-same place—for no reason at all but how meaningful that writer/author/friends exchange seemed to be at the time.  It was the best of gifts in the gifting season!

Surely it was a moment to recall Mark Twain’s famous quote, ”Truth is stranger than fiction; but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.”

I played that moment over and over in my head on my way home—smiling about the coincidence.  Or was it more than chance?   Or maybe chance with a meaning—Christmas Eve, the blurb, the thrill of having touched someone with my words, and the gift of conversation—all that seemed to add up to something else.

Then it hit me. The grocery store moment wasn’t just a simultaneous, chance visit or a unique synchronicity.  What I am about to explain will seem like a most contrived part of my story, sort of like something written in a Hallmark Christmas movie script—too made up to be true and authentic—but isn’t that what Twain meant by truth not being obliged?

One last piece of information will validate my moment as something more than a coincidence. And this is where you will roll your eyes and say ughhhh really?

And the answer is yes; the truth of that moment was legitimated a little later when it came to me. This unexpected, heartfelt visit happened in one fortuitous moment from a person whose name stood for the meaning of the holiday season itself. It was Holly. And that is the truth of where the “Orange” blog went.