Duuuuuude, how come you guys don’t have an open thread for Christmas Eve?

Reminds me of the time I was about to start housesitting for a college friend and his wife (who hated me). My friend had picked me up and brought me over to their house, and about 20 minutes after I arrived, his wife came home from work, stopped dead, and glared at me. I couldn’t figure out what I had done until my…

Three years ago, my beloved father in law died on Christmas day. It was horrible. Fast forward and as I am typing this on a bathroom break, I am watching as my husband of 22 years dies from metastatic brain cancer. Although filed with morphine sulphate liquid, he is restless beyond belief and unable to communicate…

My 14 year-old nephew is autistic and completely obsessed with candles. That said, my sister never ever EVER lets him go in to the Yankee Candle store as she fears he will break them all and never leave.

Kelly, I am loving your Christmas coverage, complete with joyous schmaltz like the wine mom towels, and showing how newish our ideas of “traditional Christmas” is. Thanks, I love this.

I love High Hopes and so do my kids!  The part where he sings, “Didn’t know how but I always had a feelin/I was gonna be that one in a million”?  Fantastic motivator for the drive to school.

Well this might keep him from getting nominated to the Supreme Court in 40 years but I wouldn't bet on it

That’s a fantastic idea! Thank you.

I was depressed enough that I stole a gun from my dad and was planning on killing myself. I got lucky when he found it missing, I was found in my car in a forest preserve. I’d been there for five hours, I had had that thing in mouth, up to my temple, and against my chest. I ended up in handcuffs and then in an…

The year was 1997. My grandfather was flirting with full-blown dementia for one of the last Christmases where he intentionally mailed presents to our house for Christmas. I was ~12 and my sister was ~14. On Christmas morning we opened our gifts from him at the same time.

I hope my kids get me stuff like that, I’d wear the shit out of it (or use it!).

Also, I read somewhere that one of the best gifts you can give to new parents is hire a cleaning crew for them. I’ve done this and I don’t think I was being insulting; in fact, I think the recipients were genuinely grateful.

Ugh.

When I was a kid, once you won, that was it. You didn’t keep playing. Absent that, I can’t see how “the integrity of the cakewalk” matters as much as making a kindergartner happy. But that’s just me.