“Twas a month after Christmas . . . They all know. My family. I wish for an all-family reunion at least once a year. Miraculously, it happens again and again. This year, the clan—relatives from the Outer Banks, Brooklyn, Washington, Oregon, and nearby Valley Center—gathered in San Diego over the Christmas and New Year’s holiday with three full-family happenings and mini-family get-togethers sprinkled throughout the week. Two birthday parties, Christmas Eve, Christmas morning and evening, New...

Stack Packs for my Writing Group Cash at 5 in his great-grandfather's football sweater “My grandmother invented the Stack Pack,” five-year-old Cash boasted vehemently to his six-year-old sister with the pride reserved for a Nobel prize winner recently recognized for discovering a cure for a deadly disease. The Stack Pack—gifts assembled one atop another—minimum three—then wrapped with gaily decorated paper, anchored together with hidden tape between each and tied with a colorful bow did not...

Marshmallows on the sweet potatoes or not? Packaged dressing? Yes or No? Why is turkey so damn expensive? Pertinent questions like this are being asked in homes throughout my neighborhood. The city. State. Country, for God’s sakes. Pertinent questions about the most over-stuffed holiday of the year. It’s Thanksgiving. Ninety-four percent of people in the United States will celebrate the holiday this year. A holiday time for counting the number around the dining room table, counting...