Hope Pres Logo

A place for you

Mack's Corner

This Week

Christmas Tree Jail When my wife and I were first married we lived in a little 900 sq. ft. house. We didn't have any money and we never bought a Christmas Tree. We poached it. I spent weeks scouting, looking for possible Christmas trees in vacant lots and fields. Usually, I would find some undeveloped property that had a bunch of cedar trees. Then the Saturday before Christmas I and my 3 other broke friends (Eli, Kenny,  and Howard) would go out at 5:30 in the morning, while it ... Read More
Posted by Mack Oates at Friday, December 24, 2021

This Week

I can see it!! For some reason, we almost always have some sort of severe weather for Christmas Eve at Hope. One year it was raining so hard and the wind was blowing so hard that the ConeHeads gave up trying to park cars and just started helping people get inside. At the time we had a little covered walkway that really didn't help you stay out of the rain, it just made you be 50 feet from the door. A family pulled up in their Honda Civic, the Dad got out, slammed his door, and ran ar... Read More
Posted by Mack Oates at Saturday, December 18, 2021

This Week

Can you smell it? I've got 3 Iron skillets. They're not worth much, maybe $10 each. They are all kinda beat up. One is about 10 inches across and 4  inches deep. The other is 12 by 2. And the one I broke, my favorite, is 10 by 2, perfect for 2 steaks, 2 grilled cheese sandwiches, 2 pancakes, 2 eggs… The thing that's so great about iron skillets is that you don't have to wash them. When you're done you get a paper towel and wipe it out, that's it. You c... Read More
Posted by Mack Oates at Saturday, December 11, 2021

This Week

Dodgeball Christmas I was thinking about the things I love about Christmas… Dodgeball!! When I was in the 6th grade we had a football coach who was our PE teacher. When it started getting close to Christmas he got real uninterested in PE class. So he did the easy thing.. Dodgeball. We would have our gym clothes on and walk out on the basketball court, about 100 of us,  and he would blow his whistle and yell "Line 'em up!". That meant line the balls across half... Read More
Posted by Mack Oates at Saturday, December 4, 2021