• Another View of Shepherd

    I’m in the midst of my annual re-reading of Jean Shepherd’s A Christmas Story. If I’m not mistaken, this is the 10th-straight December I’ve reviewed the collection of short stories that much of the movie was based on. Every year I think, “I should go back and listen to some of Shepherd’s radio shows or read a biography of him.”…

  • Song and Dance

    A couple Christmas entertainment links to share this morning. I had been kicking around the idea of writing about my least favorite Christmas songs. Alexandra Petri decided to take that to a whole other level and rank 100 Christmas songs. A few of these I’ve never heard of and I think she leaves out a few that get played a…

  • Thanksgiving Weekend Notes

    Our Thanksgiving weekend was, by one measure, perfect. We were intensely busy for parts of the weekend. At others we sat around and did nothing. Every long, holiday weekend should have that balance. C and I went to watch some of her classmates play for the CYO girls basketball city championship Tuesday night. They lost, handily, but C had fun…

  • The Most Wonderful Link of the Year

    A few days later than normal, but my annual public service announcement on where to find the most complete schedule of the holiday shows over the next month. 2018 Christmas TV Schedule

  • Holidays

    I mentioned some time after our move last summer that we were all having a hard time making the small adjustments that come with a new home. Where are the cooking pots? Where are the cutting boards? Where is our stash of paper towels? Etc, etc etc. The longer we’ve been in this house, the more all of that newness…

  • Holiday Weekend Wrap Up With More Big News

    Our summer is off to a very hot and hectic start. Remember back when I was bitching about how cold it was in April? Mother Nature was paying attention and has punished me, and others in Indiana, who complained about her April offerings. This month is almost certain to clinch the hottest May in Indianapolis history. Yesterday was the hottest…

  • Belated Holiday Wrap Up

    Glory be! After roughly 36 hours without either cable or internet access, our house (and neighborhood it turns out) has been reconnected! So I can finally start unloading some of the accumulated content from the past week-plus. First, Happy New Year! I hope your celebrations, large and small, were fun and safe. Let’s go back to 2017 and review how…

  • Wrapping Up (+ TWOD)

    We are in the full-on holiday frenzy around here. Yesterday was the girls’ final day of school of 2017. St. P’s always dismisses early on the last day before Christmas break which adds even more excitement to the day. While sitting in the parking lot at dismissal, a friend said he was taking his kids to Dairy Queen and asked…

  • Holiday Vibes

    Tonight’s the night. Last school Christmas program ever for our family. After fifteen total performances between preschool and 1st–3rd grades, L will close it out this evening when she stars as Ms. Jingle, the mayor of Jingle Bell Hills.[1] She has one of the three biggest roles and has taken to it in classic L form. She had all her…

  • AWWWW YEAHHHHH

    YES! Drew Magary has posted his annual holiday treat, The 2017 Hater’s Guide to the Williams-Sonoma Catalog. As always, read with care in the office, lest you alert all your coworkers that you’re slacking off with your laughter.