Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2021/January 2022 i Reader's Digest

IN COLLEGE, I wrote an essay about Christmas Eve. I wanted to capture the spirit of this special night for my family. I got an A, but even better was this comment from my professor: “I believe you have found an avocation.” I had to look up “avocation.” According to Merriam-Webster, it means “a subordinate occupation pursued in addition to one’s vocation especially for enjoyment: HOBBY.” It can also mean “customary employment,” or vocation. I’m not sure which way the professor meant it, but either way, he turned out to be right. My essay described our traditions: chili, church, two presents (pajamas, plus a gift of our choosing). A lot of it was about my Aunt Bud, the matriarch of my mom’s family. We were lucky we lived closest, so…

Bozo the Desert Tortoise LAS VEGAS, NEVADA OUR FAMILY HAS had a relationship with Bozo, an ancient desert tortoise, for about 50 years. We first met him in the early 1970s in the backyard of an older woman who lived a few houses down from us in our Las Vegas suburb. Our three kids visited regularly, and our neighbor loved to entertain them and teach them about desert tortoises. The kids were ages 10, 8, and 2 at the time. Our neighbor estimated that Bozo was around 60. In the late 1980s, our neighbor passed away, and her husband gave Bozo to our oldest son, Sheldon. He and Bozo have always shared a special bond. Sheldon is always patting Bozo’s shell and head when they are together, which Bozo loves.…

Wellness from THEHEALTHY.com BRADY PETERSON, 75, a retired university professor in Belton, Texas, had always been physically active, working out in a home gym and walking six to ten miles a day. Then, about four years ago, after experiencing gradually increasing stiffness and pain in his extremities, he was diagnosed with polymyalgia rheumatica, an inflammatory disease that can affect every part of the body. “I couldn’t even raise my arm above my head without it hurting. Even just moving my body in bed trying to sleep became difficult and painful,” he recalls. Peterson’s rheumatologist wanted to prescribe the steroid prednisone, and informed his patient that he’d need to take the drug long-term. But Peterson knew that the prednisone could have significant and unpleasant side effects that he hoped to avoid.…

JUMP-START YOUR FITNESS As a form of exercise that doesn’t require leaving home, jumping rope has been enjoying a surge in popularity among adults since the pandemic lockdowns began. Research has shown that jumping rope strengthens the entire body by simultaneously working muscles in the legs, arms, and abdomen. It also boosts cardiovascular fitness, which protects the heart; improves coordination and balance, which help to prevent falls; and increases bone density, which wards off osteoporosis. Just remember that landing puts a lot of force on your legs, so if you give it a try, build up gradually from shorter to longer sessions and wear well-cushioned shoes to avoid injury. Be Careful How You Quit Smoking Even though medical experts prefer nicotine patches or other medications for quitting smoking, electronic cigarettes…

I WAS SLEEP-DEPRIVED as I drove home one night in the pouring rain. I was driving too fast. I fell asleep and rolled my truck six times. I remember feeling rain on my face and hearing a helicopter. And I remember the doctor who stitched me up. As I was being discharged from the hospital, the nurse put a gigantic pile of coats in my arms. They were not mine. So where did they come from? Apparently, while I was hanging from the truck in the rain, random people had stopped, walked through the shattered glass and crumpled metal, and laid their coats over me to shield me from the elements. I left the hospital with ten coats. Ten strangers cared about me, even though I had made a terrible…

FROM THE BOOK THE STRANGER IN THE LIFEBOAT When we pulled him from the water, he didn’t have a scratch on him. That’s the first thing I noticed. The rest of us were all gashes and bruises, but he was unmarked, with smooth almond skin and thick dark hair matted by seawater. He was bare-chested, not particularly muscular, maybe 20 years old, and his eyes were pale blue, the color you imagine the ocean to be when you dream of a tropical vacation-not the endless gray waves that surround this crowded lifeboat, waiting for us like an open grave. HE WORE NO LIFE JACKET WHEN WE SAW HIM BOBBING IN THE WAVES. It’s been three days since the Galaxy sank. No one has come looking for us. I try to…

Fact or Fiction? MEDIUM Determine whether each statement is fact or fiction. To reveal the solution to the bonus question at the bottom, write the letters indicated by your responses in the corresponding numbered blanks. Turn the page upside down for the answers. 1. Christmas Island is in the Arctic Ocean. FACT: A FICTION: C 2. Dr. Seuss had a vanity license plate that read “GRINCH” FACT: A FICTION G 3. Oxygen is the most common element in the human body. FACT: V FICTIO: O 4. Martin Luther King Jr. is the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner. FACT: N FICTION: I 5. Ice hockey was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympics. FACT: Y FICTION: T 6. Washington Crossing the Delaware was painted in Germany. FACT: Y FICTION:…

Speaking Fluent Fatherlish I was five years old, and my dad wasn’t as affectionate as my mom. I believed he didn’t love me as much. One night, my bedroom door opened just a bit. My dad whispered, “Johnny, are you awake?” Feigning sleep, I didn’t answer. I felt his hand on my cheek and a kiss on my forehead. He whispered, “I love you, son.” It was his way of speaking “Fatherlish” (October). —JOHNNY SMITH Lake of the Woods, Virginia How to Be (Slightly) Funnier In a church meeting, someone announced that our thrift store had received a dozen urns for cremation ashes. Without thinking, I said, “I’m dying to get one!” Dead silence. I was embarrassed about having said that-until this article (October). —DAVID SMITH Fort Mill, South Carolina…

My sister sent me a frantic text: “Help! Any suggestions? I’m almost ready to resort to a hammer!” Attached was a photo of a wine bottle with a broken cork, a piece of which was firmly lodged in the neck of the bottle. I texted back, “An optimist would say that the cork is half out.” She quickly replied, “That’s who the hammer’s for!” –DALE HARTLEY Mayo, Florida On New Year’s Eve, my husband and I were seeing the old year out with another couple. Jessica was a good friend but a bad gossip, and that night was no different, except that she kept glancing at her watch. The later it got, the faster she talked. Finally, at three minutes before midnight, she blurted, “I’ll have to tell you this…

FROM THE WASHINGTON POST IN THE EARLY aughts, Hilary Krieger was sitting in her parents’ Boston home when her friend accidentally squirted himself with an orange slice. “I said, ‘Oh, the orange just orbisculated,’” she recalls. “And he said, ‘It did what?’” The two made a $5 bet, and Hilary gleefully grabbed the family dictionary. She flipped to the “O” section and stared at the spot on the page where “orbisculate” should have been. “My first thought was, What’s wrong with this dictionary?” she says. Aghast, Hilary burst into her dad’s study and told him the shocking news: “Orbisculate” is somehow not in the dictionary! “And he looked kind of sheepish, and that’s when I found out that he made up this word when he was in college and had…

DOCTORS HAVE KNOWN the power of cold for years—think about icing an injury to reduce inflammation. Whole-body cryotherapy uses liquid nitrogen to drastically lower body temperature. Proponents claim the cold boosts metabolism and circulation, speeding up weight loss, easing depression and anxiety, alleviating arthritis and muscle aches, and much more. Unfortunately, there’s not much data to confirm the purported benefits. But I was curious, so I showed up at a wellness spa one morning to try it. For three minutes I stood inside a slowly rotating tank, submerged up to my shoulders in liquid nitrogen gas. Surprisingly, it wasn’t until about the halfway point that I really started to feel cold, and the remaining minute and a half were more tolerable than I expected. Afterward, I noticed that my energy…

ALVIN BAMBURG, 66, was deep in the woods in Grand Cane, Louisiana, last December when something caught his eye. Crinkled and entangled in a fallen tree, it looked like litter. But Bamburg felt compelled to pick it up. “God just told me,” he says. As Bamburg approached, he saw that the object was a broken balloon. Attached was a piece of paper decorated with sparkly star stickers. It was a child’s Christmas wish list. “Dear Santa,” the handwritten note read. “My name is Luna. I am four years old. I live in Liberal, Kansas. This year I have been nice. I would like candy, Spider-Man ball, Frozen doll, puppy, My Little Pony. With love, Luna.” Bamburg’s heart hammered in his chest. Ever since he was a child, he had dreamed…

1. meringue n. (muh-’rang) A lemon custard B whipped topping C spicy eggnog 2. sieve v. (siv) A halve B mix C sift 3. bain-marie n. (ban muh-’ree) A water bath B wedding cake C steamed bun 4. galette n. (guh-’let) A rolled cookie B flat pastry C filled Danish 5. unleavened adj. (un-’leh-vind) A made without yeast B preservative-free C unsweetened 6. cardamom n. (‘kar-duh-mum) A almond paste B flower garnish C gingery spice 7. infuse v. (in-’fyooz) A light on fire B steep in liquid C heat gradually 8. profiterole n. (proh-’fih-tuh-roll) A candied pecan B plum pudding C mini cream puff 9. compote n. (‘kam-poht) A fruit cooked in syrup B vanilla buttercream C graham cracker crumble 10. pâtissier n. (pah-tiss-’yay) A piping bag B pastry chef C baking competition 11. dredge v. (drej) A coat by sprinkling…

FROM THE NASHViLLE TENNESSEAN JOEL BOYERS AND HIS fiancee, Melody Among, were heading home from the Nashville airport after she earned her helicopter’s pilot license when he received a frantic call from a stranger in Pennsylvania. The caller told Boyers that her brother and his two daughters were trapped on their roof in Waverly, 60 miles from Nashville. They were surrounded by rising floodwaters caused by last August’s record-shattering rains and didn’t think they would survive. Desperate, the caller had Googled “Nashville helicopters,” and Boyers’s company, Helistar Aviation, was the first to pop up. She pleaded, Could Boyers please, please rescue her loved ones? Boyers, 41, looked west toward Waverly and saw the storm clouds. “Ma’am,” he said, “no one will fly in this weather, and for good reason.” But…

1 Don’t Fall into the Wrong Airline Fare Bucket TRAVEL Did you know that airlines subdivide tickets in each seating class into fare buckets? This means a finite number in each class sell at a lower price and the rest are set at a higher price. So, when buying multiple tickets, you might see a price hike for all of them. It means you’ve maxed out the cheaper fare bucket, so all the tickets in your virtual cart automatically jumped to the pricier bucket. Avoid this by purchasing tickets one at a time. This way, if you see the price jump, you’re stuck paying the higher fare for only some of the seats. 2 Give Yourself an Early Holiday Present HOME Cursing the fool who put away last year’s decorations…

Preheat oven to 425°. Trim the stalks of two 8-ounce broccoli crowns, removing any tough or dried exterior, then cut crowns into quarters from top to bottom. Drizzle with 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; sprinkle all over, to taste, with salt, freshly ground black pepper, and red pepper flakes. Arrange broccoli on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet, then roast until crisp-tender, 10-12 minutes. Meanwhile, thinly slice 4 medium garlic cloves and toss with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Sprinkle the broccoli with garlic and roast until garlic is just beginning to turn golden around the edges, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle broccoli all over with 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and roast until cheese is melted and broccoli stalks are tender, 2-4 minutes. Toss with 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest…

The tenth Fast and Furious movie should be called Fast 10: Your Seatbelts. —@sophiekeen Don’t call me “honey”and expect it to soften the fact that you SHRUNK THE KIDS. —@BrotiGupta My question is did Disney come up with the movie and then the name, or did someone just think of the pun “Aristocats” and design the entire movie around it? —t@memantula The first rule of Don’t Fight Club is let’s talk about it. —@iamspacegirl Jurassic Park is a movie about how just because something is great it doesn’t mean you should bring it back, and it has three sequels. —@meakoopa The mayor of Jaws is still the mayor in – Jaws 2. It is so important to vote in your local elections. —@adamgoodell…

FOR SOME, PUTTING UP Christmas lights is yet another holiday chore. But in the Pascucci household, it was always a big day of celebration. Every year on the day after Thanksgiving, Anthony Pascucci, the family patriarch, woke up excited to string lights and decorate the lawn of his home in Beth-page, New York. And why wouldn’t he be? It was a family affair. Starting in early November, Anthony and his older sister, Connie Pascucci, had a tradition of visiting local stores to check out new decorations and to dream up their vision for that year’s extravaganza. Anthony’s son, Anthony Jr., and daughter, Sara, shared the home, and they pitched in as well. Anthony Jr. helped with the wiring, while Sara hung ornaments on the tree inside the house, playing “White…

WHERE, OH WHERE? (page 40) D. Alton Bay, New Hampshire BRAIN GAMES (page 115) Quick Crossword ACROSS 3. READ 4. LEARN 6. VOLUNTEER 9. ORGANIZE 10. SLEEP DOWN 1. TRAVEL 2. MEDITATE 5. EXERCISE 7. COOK 8. SAVE Secret Santa 1 in 4, or 25 percent. There were six names in the hat to start. But you know Paula’s name has already been taken out, and it wouldn’t make sense for you to pick your own name. That leaves four names, and you’re going to pick one. Fill in the Blanks Marry, mercy, merry, and murky.…