Smile big for me.

With all the holiday shopping behind us, people can get back to everyday cordiality. Civility can be restored. Folks can return to politeness.

Don't count on it, though. However, it is nice when everyone is nice to each other, don't you think? Sure it is.

I try to be nice all the time. It's not hard. Yet, our world is full of grumps, or so it can seem.

Some of those grumps, you see, aren't really grumpy. They're walking around amongst us, with their minds adrift elsewhere. You know what I mean? They're thinking about something that might or might not be pleasant. Whatever that might be, they're not thinking about the rest of us. They don't mean to look grumpy and standoffish; it's just that they're in another world, as they walk past us.

When I see a forlorn soul staring out from a set of lifeless eyes placed above a down-on-life frown, I smile a big smile, and I try to lock eyes with his or hers. Often it works, and I lure out genuine smiles from many of those people. In fact, it works more often than not.

I do it a lot in stores – especially in places like Wal-Mart. I see a lot of sourpuss faces in Wal-Mart. So, as I head for whatever it is that I need to pick up, I lock eyes with a lot of them and flash big grins and lure out some quite pleasant smiles from those sour mugs. Each time I succeed, I see that he or she wasn't really grumpy or unhappy. Hopefully, she or he sees it, too, and continues to smile for the rest of the day.

I tried my happy smile on a woman at church a couple of weeks ago. I hardly could believe that someone could look so grumpy in church. I said to myself: Here you go, Lord; let me inspire this one for you.

I locked eyes and smiled. Holy moly! Lord, have mercy, it didn't work! Her frown did not budge, and she looked at me as if to say: What the heck are you lookin' at?

Oh, no. Did she think I was trying to hit on her? Did she think I was crazy? Not to be deterred, I switched from a warm smile to a cheesy grin. Yikes! It still wasn't working. Should I go for the throat, like Tom Cruise did to Jack Nicholson in "A Few Good Men"?

"You can't handle the truth!" Jack's character, Col. Nathan R. Jessup, yelled.

What would happen now, in church, in front of the congregation? Could it possibly be? You know: "You can't handle the smile!"

I went for it. This time, I cocked my head to one side in the most charming way and smiled as warm as a human being could smile. And it worked! Her lips curved upward, evoking a genuine, heartfelt smile. I could almost feel the glorious, glowing, morning light shine through the stained glass windows of the church and onto my shoulders. What a sweet smile.

Today is the last day of 2013. A lot of people will be smiling tonight, as they ring in the new year – many toasting 2014 with some bubbly Champagne or some other kind of cheer. We'll all be cheerful and nice to each other.

Perhaps we can carry the niceties into and through the new year. Smile big for me. It's nice to be nice.

Christmastime is a magical time for me.

We put up the Christmas tree this week, earlier than usual. Guess I'm getting old and need to squeeze as much holiday spirit as I can out of my remaining Christmases. Anne agreed that we should put up the tree early and sip some spiked eggnog while we did it. I picked up some Prairie Farms eggnog at the base commissary and broke out some fine Canadian whiskey and some cinnamon and nutmeg to mix into it. I cannot remember having so much fun while decorating a Christmas tree. And our humble, 6-foot, decorated, fake pine looks great. To me, it does.

Last night, my daughter-in-law and the boys watched "The Polar Express," the 2004 computer-animated Christmas film based on Chris Van Allsburg's book. I love that movie! It's the kind of fantastical and magical story that takes me back to my childhood Christmases. It's very much like the kind of dreams that might have played out in my sleeping head during the winter nights before Christmas.

"A Christmas Story" also is a favorite film of mine at Christmastime. At the beginning of that memorable Christmas feature, Ralphie and friends are looking into a big department store window, marveling at all the glorious Christmas displays. That really takes me back to my boyhood Christmastimes, gazing in awe into the holiday windows at such large St. Louis department stores as Stix, Baer and Fuller and – this was my favorite – Famous-Barr.

Electric trains made their way through the Famous-Barr window displays, rolling along on the train tracks through artificial snow and around wonderful toys. Just like in the movie, you'd probably see a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in that beautiful, wood stock. One Christmas, I found a Daisy under our Christmas tree. And I didn't shoot my eye out!

A truly wonderful memory of a Christmastime department-store experience was struck when I was a young adult, during the Christmas season of 1970 in Paris, France. After work one day at the U.S. Embassy, my boss gave me the mission – if I chose to accept it – of wandering out into the City of Light to find and buy a sled for his child. It was snowing in Paris, and I decided to head for the 10-story department store Galleries Lafayette on Boulevard Haussman. By the time I neared the majestic store, it was early evening, the snow was really coming down, and the Christmas lights of Paris were twinkling. Then I caught sight of the historic Galleries Lafayette in all its yuletide splendor. I thought back to Famous-Barr and its fantastic window displays. However, I was thinking that I might have found something to equal it. I looked across and up the street at my objective and was transfixed by the vision of Galleries Lafayette in the falling snow and storybook lights. Truly wonderful, it was, and I thought to myself: Merry Christmas, Griggs! Joyeux Noël!

The old St. Louis department stores are gone now. These days, people head to the nearest mall or to such modern-day shopping meccas as Target, Wal-Mart and Kmart. You know the latter two must be American institutions, when you can find them in "The Associated Press Stylebook."

Christmas gifts that children want from those stores also have changed. Forget about Erector sets and Lincoln Logs. You better be shopping for Kurio Touch 4S Family Tablets and Xbox 360s and perhaps the newest Wii game machines. Hey, Grandpa, do you know what the new Nintendo 3DS is? When I hear stuff like that, I scratch my head and think: Does any kid anymore want a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock?

When I think of all the hype about the latest electronic toys, all the holiday-shopping commercials, and the earlier arrival of Christmastime each year, I observe how commercial Christmas has become in America. I know it has, because my parents were complaining about it when I was a kid.

Oh, well, not to worry. We have enough to worry about, worrying about real worries, such as the daily dangers facing Americans in Afghanistan, gun violence in America, how to pay the bills in a stinking economy and lousy job market. Let's just enjoy the holidays as much as we possibly can. That's the spirit!

Blueberry products – some healthful, some maybe not – help fill my fridge and pantry.

I never feel blue when I'm eating blueberries.

Blueberries please my taste buds and brighten my mood, while infusing me with beneficial antioxidants. Yes, blueberries – those tasty, dark-blue, little spheres – are tiny super fruits. They're super delicious and super healthful.

Long before I knew about the health powers of blueberries, I loved them. Blueberry pie and chocolate cream pie were always my favorite pies, ever since I was a kid.

The other day, my friend Hilary posted on Facebook a photo of four pies she'd just made. One was blueberry. I wanted to reach into that photo and grab that pie. I, of course, could not do that, so then I wanted to fly to Los Angeles, drive to Altadena, bolt inside Hilary's house and slice into that disc of scrumptious crust and gooey blueberry filling. I know it was scrumptious and gooey and good, because I know Hilary would bake nothing less wonderful than that.

But, alas, I was regretfully stuck in Lebanon, Ill., so I did the next best thing. I plated an Otis Spunkmeyer wild-blueberry muffin, piled on some fresh blueberries, poured on some Smucker's bluberry syrup, and plopped a dollop of left-over Thanksgiving whipped cream on the top. My blueberry wig-out was averted. I was temporarily content.

You can find, at all times, blueberry products in my refrigerator and pantry and bread basket. The fresh blueberries that I buy at the market usually come from California. You can pick your own blueberries at some Southern California berry farms, but you pretty much have to be in Southern California in order to do that.

Here in southern Illinois and the southern half of Missouri – in the rural areas of the St. Louis region, for example – one can find wild blueberries, when they're in season. Blue Ridge blueberries grow near trails and clearings and on ridges and hilltops that get sunlight. My dad and I were wild-berry pickers back when I was young and oblivious of the healthful antioxidents and nutrients that accompanied those berry-good flavors.

Now I use those health benefits as excuses for eating anything blueberry, even if it contains high fructose corn syrup and a pound of butter and a cup of sugar. Here's me: Oh, look, it has blueberries and natural pure cane sugar, and that butter can be my dairy today.

A study conducted by Ronald L. Prior, PhD, at the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture put blueberries at the top of the list of most antioxidant-rich edibles. Blueberries beat out cranberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, Red Delicious apples, red kidney beans, pecans, pinto beans and 10 more beneficial products, including green tea.

Maybe today, I'll have just plain, fresh blueberries topped with a little low-fat, blueberry yogurt. I'm trying to improve my diet and exercise regimen now, rather than make it a silly New Year's resolution.

I never found my thrill on Blueberry Hill, but give me a bowl of blueberries, and I won't be blue.