{After a compromise with my wife in how I handle the reality of Santa Claus with our daughters, I became frustrated and decided a manifesto in the pen of Santa. Hopefully through this we can could some idea of Santa while keeping a correct context for it all. Here is Santa’s Manifesto for your enjoyment [...]

Talk to my wife about me and she would quickly attest to my social awkwardness. This awkwardness reaches fatal levels during the holiday season. Gifting giving in itself it a source of stress, though for me even reaching gifts is difficult, probably even more difficult.
Case in point: My wife comes home yesterday, excited about a [...]

painted by Jennie A. Brownscombe
Today begins the month of November.
It is a rather awkward month in some particularly peculiar ways. Let me give you a few examples.
I am very much a proponent of not getting ready for one holiday before all other major holidays leading up to it are celebrated. I mean if we are [...]

image by Isadore Berg

Continuing my series of posts on living simply, I will explore a difficult topic: your children’s toys.
It has seemed as if one of the hardest things to simplify in my family’s life has been the quantity & quality of our children’s toys. I have two young girls and they seem to be [...]

The summer heat has done much to keep me from blogging this summer. Here are a few excuses from my recent trip westward.