There is nothing in this world I love more than my family, and Christmas is the perfect the perfect holiday for family. With me in D.C. and my little brother in Hawaii, it's not easy getting us all together, so this is the first time in four years we've all been home for the holidays. This Friday Five is dedicated to the five members of my family ( Read more... )

It's no secret that I enjoy off-beat music, and when it comes to Christmas carols, I enjoy an array of songs. You might even say I have an eclectic taste in holiday music. Mixed into the 12 or so hours of Christmas music on my iPod, I have everything from Fall Out Boy to The King Singers, Brandi Carlile to 98 Degrees ( Read more... )

Because most of our family still lives in the Chicago area, there are a lot of extended family gatherings around the holidays. But when all of us kids started moving away from home, my mother began to insist on having at least one dinner--just the five of us--around Christmas ( Read more... )

The other night I was talking to my sister about all the great Christmas movies we used to watch when we were kids, like One Magic Christmas starring Mary Steenburgen. And then my friends over at the PBS Booklights blog mentioned The Lump of Coal by Lemony Snicket, a short story I read and loved a few years ago. So that got me thinking about some ( Read more... )

1. I don't have to experience another Midwest Winter. Right now, in my hometown, it is cold and snowy. But in the DC area, it is ten degrees warmer and the wind-chill is almost twenty degrees higher. We might get a little snow here, but I won't have to deal with shoveling and snowdrifts and falling icicles and black ice like I would in Chicago or ( Read more... )