Wagaliciousness Begins Here!

Oh, the lovely traditions of the holidays. For some, this time of year is all about festive traditions, and for some, it’s more about their religious affiliation. No matter what or why you celebrate, not every aspect of your holidays is made of wildflowers and unicorns. For a lot of people, there are parts of the festivities they wish would go away.

And that’s perfectly OK!

Maybe your family didn’t spring from a Norman Rockwell painting. Maybe your idyllic childhood was marred by a tragic loss. Maybe you have one dysfunctional person you can avoid the rest of the year but have to deal with during the holidays, and you’d really rather not.

It can be very difficult to buck traditions and family expectations, and it’s often the pathway to your own mental balance and wellbeing. I’m going to ask you an important question – are you an adult? If you’re living an otherwise autonomous life yet are having difficulty setting a holiday-related boundary, time to focus on and fix this holiday hic...

Think back to your childhood, and what you remember from Decembers past. Chances are, at least a few of your memories include sweets. Maybe your mom was like mine, and she made holiday cookies, candies, and pies. What did she make, and what was your favorite? Do you make it now, and if so, how do your family members react?

Maybe your December memories include some not-so-sweet ones. I remember watching Mom cry so hard I thought her heart would stop when Dad left for Viet Nam in December of 1968. I hope when you think back on your Decembers, the good memories drown out the not-so-good ones.

My mom was Eileen Weaver and she loved to create holiday favorites. Each year she’d spend pieces of several days creating a mountain of sugary goodness for the family and to give as gifts. Dad loved her peanut patties and date nut roll. My brothers and I loved her snowball cookies, and loved helping her make cut-out cookies decorated with colored icing and sprinkles. She made caramel corn, peanut b...

Quick – what one holiday tradition from your childhood did you love best? Opening gifts? Family game time? Snitching the cookies while they were still warm?

For me, it was the advent candles Mom let my brothers and me burn during the 12 nights before Christmas. She read an article in Good Housekeeping magazine with ideas to keep children’s anticipation and curiosity about all those presents under the tree focused and in control, and one of the suggestions was the advent candle. Mom would cut 11 notches into three identical taper candles and my two brothers and I would burn one notch each night, burning the candle to the very end on Christmas Eve. Somewhere between bath time and bedtime, we’d gather at the coffee table in the living room, Christmas music playing, a tray of Mom’s cookies and candies in front of us, and watch the flame on our candles dance, melting the red wax into star-shaped pools in the bottom of three glass candle holders.

OK, I know this sounds kind of boring – wha...