To be clear, I am squarely a Gen Xer. But being a Gen Xer means I was raised on the music of the 1960s and 70s — and after the week I’ve had, one thought and one song keeps coming back: To everything there is a season. 

This season, this cold winter, has so far been about sadness and grief. I was supposed to have dinner yesterday with a few other couples - dear “work” friends that we were socializing with here and there outside...

This weekend gave us a taste of spring, even as we were undecorating our trees and packing away the winter decor. Will winter come at all this year? The kids in my house are yearning for a good snow day and I’ll even admit that I’d like one. Exactly one. One good snow, good for one good snowman and a few good sledding runs, one afternoon of hot chocolate and one morning of shoveling the driveway. After that, an early thaw and...

I was reminded during the Delaware Children’s Theatre’s sold-out run of Frozen Jr. (coming soon to Cab Calloway and HB du Pont MS) about Hygge. Pronounced "hoo-ga," this Danish concept cannot be translated to one single word but encompasses a feeling of cozy contentment and well-being through enjoying the simple things in life. 

Breaking news: Hygge is my word of the year. I’m 46 now and I love nothing more than a glass of...

Here we go. New year, new you? New decade, new you? Having been alive for 40-something years now has taught me, there is no new me to be found. It took me a long time to recognize, and even longer to own, the personality traits I may not love the most but here we are - with perhaps too many books piled around the house (a reading next pile, a reference pile, a reading after next pile, and want to read someday pile, a shelf ful...

It’s hard to feel festive when you’ve got a parent in the hospital, a kid at urgent care, travel plans to reorganize, cousins counting on you, and too much to do in the limited time you have left. But my mom sent me a text last night saying that as she was aggravated at running errands in traffic on 202, she passed the funeral home and saw the parking lot full — and it reminded her, and consequently the rest of us, that, indee...

House? Decorated. Gifts? Mostly purchased, some even wrapped. Music? On constantly. Menu prepped, outfits more or less chose, bags close to packed. Ready or not, the holiday are here. Find your merry, and find it fast. 

Here’s the real nightmare before Christmas: Have we done enough - this season and all year - to let our people know we love them, even if we don’t have any idea what they’d like for Christmas (college-aged nep...

The President is being impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors. My kid can’t find her AirPods. Do we have enough saved for college? High school applications are due soon. I need to find a gift for my favorite annual holiday party of the year (looking at you, Book Club), an outfit to wear to my sister’s party (a very close second except the Book Club party is pajamas-optional and my sister’s party is definitely not although...

At your house, the Elf on the Shelf has possibly made his/her/their first appearance, dangling precipitously from the chandelier or hiding in plain sight on the mantel or in a bath of mini-marshmallows. At my house, pumpkins still adorned the porch this morning. It’s okay. Sometime in the next 23 days (or less, if you - like we are - are traveling the weekend before Christmas) it will all get done. The wrapping, finding, hidin...

Tis the season for traditions. The advent calendar, the elf on the shelf, the family gatherings, cookie exchanges, holiday cards, holiday events, holiday decorations, et cetera et cetera.

Except, what happens when the traditions change? In our family, the two houses that always hosted the holidays - my aunt in New Jersey that hosted 30+ for Thanksgiving, and my parents that hosted Christmas - have both moved this year, leaving...

It’s that time of year! Your aunt is asking what the kids want for the holidays, the kids are dropping hints or outright requests every five seconds, and you are looking around at your house filled with junk that goes ignored 80% of the time and wondering why you are thinking about getting a seasonal job to cover everyone’s wish list. It goes without saying that not one person has asked or will ask what Mom wants for Christmas...