Since "Juldemort" (July 2020 was so horrific for me that's how I refer to it) I've noticed startling changes in myself. One is that I no longer prefer gray skies to bright ones. As this 2015 post expresses, I used to dislike and avoid sunny days, staying inside so the...
I suspect some white Americans might think they're honoring Mexican culture by having cinco de mayo parties, but they're not. Cinco de mayo has become another American-appropriated holiday that isn't really celebrated in its country of origin. If you want to celebrate...
It's my annual posting of my summary of the History Channel's Christmas Unwrapped: The History of Christmas. Part of our American Christmas tradition is for people to throw around the phrase "the true meaning of Christmas." What that phrase usually refers to is an...
Well, here's a story. Now I'm SO glad I bought that Christmas mantel covering! My new Christmas tradition is to invite any internationals over to my home who don't have a place to go and who would like to celebrate Christmas the American way. I do this through my...
It's my annual posting of my summary of the History Channel's Christmas Unwrapped: The History of Christmas. Part of our American Christmas tradition is for people to throw around the phrase "the true meaning of Christmas." What that usually means is...
When I filed for divorce, my then-husband signed papers that released him from having to appear in court. I appeared before the judge by myself and she finalized the divorce. It turns out that I can divorce my husband that way, but to separate our AT&T cell phone...
I think what I like about being at an airport is that it's a kind of limbo. Right now I'm at IAH, where I was booked on a 7:28p flight back to Chicago O'Hare Airport. Instead, I'm now waiting for a 10:45p flight because my other one was canceled. So I sit, pace, eat a...
Now that I spend more time with people who weren't born in the U.S, I see American culture differently. I'm fascinated by the things such people identify as being good and bad about us. I have new appreciation for our American never-say-die attitude and the way we're...
[I originally posted this January 5, 2006.] What's Christmas without tradition? The Christmas tradition for my blog is the annual posting of my summary of the History Channel's Christmas Unwrapped: The History of Christmas. I find it extremely relevant to the annual...
Demonstrators link hands in downtown Chicago last night. Jim Young - Reuters I'm so irritated today. Last night, while I was standing in Millennium Park with a bunch of families and grown-up Christmas goofs (like me), demonstrators were organizing south of...
My fellow Americans, the nice story about Thanksgiving starting with the first white settlers in North America inviting the American Indians to celebrate the harvest isn't strictly true. In fact, the white people and the native people were probaby at war a lot of the...
I haven't used my Macy's card since November 2014 because that's when I became disgusted with them for making their employees work on Thanksgiving Day. Last holiday season I vowed never to shop there again and I haven't. But I forgot to cut up my card and close the...
We Americans grow up with kid-focused holidays such as Halloween and Christmas where everything is for kids: candy, decorations, special clothes, parties and games. Christmas traditions in the U.S. were originally established primarily to celebrate childhood (and make...
This was just too ridiculous for me to ignore. First, I LOVE Halloween and foods that are black, like jelly beans and olives. Second, I still like hamburgers, even though I now eat them without the bun. Third, the idea of a scary hamburger made me laugh out loud. A...