Brian and I celebrated Christmas with my parents in Montana this year. I haven’t been home on Christmas for three years, so it was nice to have a chance to visit. There’s nothing quite like Christmas on a farm in Montana. Of course I might be biased. Just maybe. Since this is Brian and my first Christmas together as a married couple, there was a lot of talk about traditions. Traditions are one of my favorite things about the holiday season. They make the holidays richer. More magical. They add warmth and flavor to memories. They increase anticipation of the future. This year, we each brought traditions with us from our childhood.…

I’ll be honest, Thanksgiving has never been my favorite holiday. Don’t get me wrong, food is delicious and I consistently eat too much of it—but I just don’t find that much satisfaction in a holiday that encourages me to eat way more than my sensitive stomach can handle. On top of that, the holiday has always felt a little cheesy to me. People, sitting around a table, reciting to each other the things they are thankful for—a good practice, to be sure, but there seldom seems to be any substance to it. Perhaps it is because Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday that I find I have trouble fully embracing…