So I’m telling you that marrying an outdoorsman leads to all kinds of alone time. My husband and I have a bizarre dynamic – we were married before my husband’s love for the outdoors was fully, well, fleshed. It’s like I married a bald Chia Pet I intended to just sit there, but someone put…

The social media post about a child’s name was harsh. It read something like, “Why do parents think changing the spelling of a child’s name makes the child special? Raising a child to be special makes them special!” Well, my dad gave me a special name and raised me to be special, I inwardly huffed.…

I had an epiphany this week. It came, as I think most epiphanies do, while I was watching Fast & Furious Presents Hobbs & Shaw. I’m kind of in love with the double ampersand there. I saw this movie in the theater when it was released in 2019. I had never seen a Fast &…

So I never got to my butchered Christmas tree last week. I have a word limit. Not a self-imposed word limit – my husband’s grandfather once told me I talk too much. His other grandfather also told me I talk too much. My word limit is editor-imposed. I’m pretty sure no matter how awesome I…

My holidays were marked by a sofa I couldn’t get rid of and a Christmas tree I accidentally murdered. How were yours? Let’s start with the sofa. I bought a new sofa. The old one had to go. There was just one problem. The new sofa was set to arrive on a Saturday. Trash day…

So I was reading this article about holiday stress and thinking I’d like to have some normal holiday stress instead of this berserker holiday stress that is solely responsible for the 15.5 Hershey’s Kisses I ate last Saturday. It was only 15.5 because, well, because I like to eat four at a time but when…

A holiday tradition can be comforting, something to cherish and anticipate. Or they can be dreadful. Take Martha Stewart. She, like most of us, bakes Christmas cookies every year. Cookies bring such joy. And playing salmonella roulette with stolen bites of raw cookie dough? Is there anything more Christmas-y than that? But Martha also goes…

Under normal circumstances, I need very little prep to go to our cabin. Long ago, I stocked the cabin with necessities, to minimize how much I need to pack. A tour will find the kitchen stocked with cookies, the bedroom hosting a romance novel, the bathroom supplied with concealer. Yes. I wear makeup at the…

I took to heart those news articles about global supply chain issues affecting Christmas after I was lectured about the tilapia. My parents eat tilapia all the time, so they purchase it by the bag. I mean, by the bag. These are large bags, crammed with four or five tilapia filets. These bags are ten…

Last year, I gave you a list of Thanksgiving activities. That Thanksgiving list was heavy on turkeys, light on Pilgrims. That’s because I was rejected by the Pilgrims. Sort of. I’ll tell you the story of my rejection. But first, I’m going to tell you about Harry Truman. Wait! Don’t go! I promise this isn’t…

It’s Halloween weekend. So the holiday season begins on Monday, right? Let’s pull out our festive throw pillows. Bake cookies. Start shopping. Tell Burl Ives if he’s pouring a cup of cheer, we’re drinking. Ooh! And Rudolph! Yes. Put on one of the old Rudolph movies! Embrace it, because you know when you make your…

My husband looked over my shoulder at exactly the wrong moment. When pandemic lockdowns began, I wanted to connect with my kids. So I did what any pop culture-loving parent would do. I introduced my youngest child to Pee-Wee Herman and my oldest to horror movies. It was while we were watching Friday the 13th…

I bought the pumpkin. Its official name is “Medium Dark Woven Pumpkin by Threshold.” I bought it at Target because Target is a Siren, singing you a song about coming in for eyeliner but banging your ship against the rocks of $20 throw pillows you just can’t leave behind. I pictured that pumpkin in my…

We have to talk about apple picking for a minute. We’re suburban parents. Apple picking is as much a requirement for fall as pretending to be cordial with your annoying neighbor when the kids trick-or-treat at her house. My good friend and colleague Christine Tarlecki curated some lovely farms for apple picking just about the…

I was reading this month’s Real Simple magazine – that thing is just a little pocket of joy in your day, let me tell you – when I came across an article about families who moved during the pandemic. I would link the article, but I can’t find it online. I even checked Real Simple’s…

I was in pre-school when my mom took a new job. Her schedule was erratic. An evening here. A weekend there. I was erratic too. “She’s acting up because she doesn’t like the unpredictability of your schedule,” the pediatrician told my mom. The pediatrician appreciated the necessity of my obsessiveness. If it was a problem,…