When I think about my favorite Christmas memories there are three that come to mind. Two are from early childhood and one is more recent. As kids we celebrated most of our Christmases at my grandparents’ house. They lived about an hour’s drive north of us. Their modest 2-bedroom apartment was not large, but as…
Since 2010 we head down to Florida every December to spend the holidays with family, and to have a vacation away from home. Since 2012, we’ve driven so that we avoid the stress of airports, canceled flights, luggage limits. It saves money because we don’t have to buy airline tickets for the five of us,…
For as organized as I like to think I am, I am terrible at prepping for the holidays. I’ve lost count of how many trips to the grocery store we’ve made at this point. We are having my sister and her family over for Thanksgiving. Preparations began a few weeks ago when we ordered a…
For the last 19 years, the first thing I think about on July 4 is not the birth of the country, it is death. In one of the most remarkable coincidences in the history of the country, both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day, which happened to be July 4, 1826–the…
I jotted notes throughout the holiday weekend in case I observed anything post-worthy. Looking through my notes, it seems like the notes themselves are enough for one post. Wednesday It seems like Thanksgiving weekend starts earlier ever years. For our kids, the weekend began Tuesday at around noon after their “Grandparents” show at school. With…
It’s that time of year again when mailboxes are clogged filled with holiday letters from various friends and family, updating everyone on the various accomplishments of the past year. I seem to received a lot of these letters (I post my own online, for instance here and here) and having read many thousands of such…
Today marks the 4th Valentine’s Day that Kelly and I have spent together, and it is worthy of at least a brief mention: <begin mushy sentiment> I generally agree that Valentine’s Day has become a Hallmark holiday and a rather sentimental one at that, given its history. We buy cards and flowers and candy. It…
The Little Man has an ear infection and managed to have a bit of a rough night last night. He slept in this morning, however, much to the chagrin of everyone else who wanted him up so that he could open all of his presents. He finally got up about halfway through our gift unwrapping…
Dear Friends and Family, We are just back from another trip around the sun and let me say it is good to be home. Virgin Galactic lost our luggage on the way back but I am optimistic that they will pick up its beacon before our bag spirals into the sun. And besides, I’d already…
So last night was the first night of Hanukkah. It is no secret to anyone who knows me that, while I was brought up Jewish, I am non-practicing. Other Jews have a phrase for this: I’m a bad Jew. (This reminds me of the man who told a friend that he was getting a divorce…
Since everyone has been posting what they will be doing this Thanksgiving weekend here is my plan: Wednesday Head home early Clean up the house a bit Work on more fixes for the novel outline Write Chapter 24 Arlington Writers Group meetup at 7pm Thursday Early morning writing (Chapter 25) Last-minute house-stuff Thanksgiving with friends:…
No work today as it is a federal holiday and that meant I could sleep in late and be lazy all day long. And that’s more or less what happened. Kelly headed home after lunch at TGI Friday’s. I planned to get the house cleaned up a bit, do some laundry, and head to the…