To my kids, Christmas smells like cinnamon bread, warm spiced almonds and cashews, and kettle corn. Also, sausages with peppers and onions cooking on giant flat top grills. That’s because we used to go to Dollywood every year at Christmas time. If you’ve never been – either to Dollywood, or specifically to Dollywood’s Christmas –… Continue reading Smoky Mountain Christmas
The very first Halloween costume my daughter had, when she was just five months-old, was a lamb costume. It was full body, made of faux wool with little patches of tan on the feet to indicate hooves. The headpiece was separate and velcroed under the chin, and it was topped with sweet little lamb’s ears… Continue reading Little Lamb
I was never a fan of the Proverbs 31 woman. You know the one – that fearsome, do-it-all creature who rises and goes and bargains and buys and makes and feeds and never, ever stops. I developed a grievance against her many years ago when I heard one too many Father’s and Mother’s Day sermons… Continue reading That Woman
We had breakfast in the mountains Saturday morning. We packed our chairs, and the Coleman stove, and the little cook table, the night before. We rose at an indecent hour for a Saturday to bake a casserole and fill thermoses with coffee. Then we drove for over an hour as the sun began to lighten… Continue reading Breakfast in the Mountains
“That makes my tummy red.” This was one of my daughter’s favorite expressions when she was a toddler. Having to pick up her toys made her tummy red. Having to sit down and eat made her tummy red. Correction or discipline definitely made her tummy red. Being told to do something that she didn’t want… Continue reading Little Speakers with Big Thoughts
