Advent

Children are experts at practicing anticipation. “When I’m big,” they tell us before launching into elaborate and unrealistic dreams for the future. “How many days ’til I’m 6?” they ask curiously, the day after they’ve turned 5. “How many…

Because we strictly limit their screen time, my children are voracious book readers. Reading aloud is also one of the ways to build a family culture around discussion, ideas, shared stories, and connection. This year during Advent and…

The Bidens can’t do anything right for Americans, including decorate the White House for Christmas. Jill Biden’s first mistake was ridding the State Dining Room mantle of any personalized stockings for her grandchildren so she wouldn’t have…

Advent starts on Sunday, which means every store in America that has ever sold a candy cane has been fully decked out in holiday merch since Labor Day. I walked into my local Trader Joe’s the other night and saw an Advent calendar printed…

Since Recession Christmas is almost here, I hope we’re all ready to play a Yuletide game normally reserved for impoverished college students and gambling addicts — Christmas Cash Reimbursement. In case you’re not familiar, this is the game…

For many of you, it never left. For those involved in Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and other denominations that have kept to liturgy, you have been enjoying the long-held tradition of Advent since the 4th century. Not so for me.…

“Why are these Christmas songs so sad?” The question came from a little girl named Hazel. She’d been raised in a different Christian tradition, with drums, guitars, and applause. But that Sunday of Advent, she was sitting with her dad in a…