As the year turns again to where it is no longer as big a deal as when I was much younger, I started thinking about some of the simpler things I’m thankful for. Mostly, it’s the little things …

Editor’s note: The Beacon is revisiting Worship columns by some of our retired writers. This piece that ran Feb 14, 2009, is by Mark Smith, former senior pastor of Mukilteo Presbyterian …

Oh, the weather outside is frightful But the fire is so delightful And since we've no place to go Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow Like the song says, if the weather has to be …

Way back, say in the 1800s, there were “newspapers” – but in many cases, you did not receive the paper for days, perhaps weeks, or months. Imagine you’re out on the trail in a wagon …

We have completed Christmas Day, and many may already be packing up the tree, and moving on to the New Year’s decorations and parties. In the Lutheran Church and many mainline Protestant …

As we wind down 2022, I would like to reflect on this past year and look forward to 2023. At the Dec. 5 City Council meeting, the Council voted to approve the City’s 2023 budget. Although there …

The Department 56 seasonal tradition setup at Karen and Chuck's house is now going into its third decade. I guess, unconsciously, the seed was planted back when my parents were very poor and, for …

Jerry Lewis passed away in 2017. He was 91. I read about an interview he gave the year before, when he was a “young” 90. He said, “I have so much left to do and so little time in which to do …

This month marks the two-year anniversary of the opening of the new Mukilteo Ferry Terminal. Overall, few of the real pedestrian safety and waterfront/Old Town access issues plaguing this area for …

“This darkness. Why does it have to get dark so early!” I grumbled to myself. Well, at least I didn’t have to cook tonight – I had ordered Chinese from our favorite Chinese restaurant and was …

For Christians, this season of Advent is a time to anticipate the coming of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. Churches remind themselves using a variety of Christ’s different character …

Just before the turn of the 20th century, 8-year-old Virginia Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. Lead …

When the residents of Mukilteo elected me as mayor once again, one of my main focuses was to continue maintaining a strong environment for our business community here in Mukilteo. In order to …

I am always amazed by nature. It is so all-powerful. I actually think (if nature can think!) that it has a certain disdain for humans. Mostly because nature has been around as long as our planet, …

“I am woman, hear me roar, in numbers too big to ignore, and I know too much to go back and pretend.” – Helen Reddy My mom loves to tell a story from my childhood of one specific quarrel …

It would be good for the City of Mukilteo to endeavor to redirect the State of Washington entities and the FAA to consider the Burlington area as the expansion, relief airport for Sea-Tac, rather …

It was a normal English-cold and hard-breathing smoky day when – 179 years ago, Dec.19, 1843 – people all over were reading, “Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about …

Editor’s note: The Beacon is revisiting Worship columns by some of our retired writers. This piece that ran Aug.24, 2011 is by Mark Smith, former senior pastor of Mukilteo Presbyterian …