Heading into the holidays, it was my intention to greet Advent as a season of hope and joyful anticipation. I’m not sure how well I did on this front. It was an emotional holiday, and as usual, I created unnecessary internal drama by allowing old stories to loop through my mind. There were so many moments when I thought to myself, frustratedly, “how many more Christmases will be like this?” “Like this” is a concoction of all of my usual stuff: longing for…

When I was growing up, the Christmas season was a big deal within my little family unit. This included Christmas Eve and Day and all of the traditions that came with them. But it began at the start of the advent season, the fourth Sunday before Christmas. As I get older, I give more thought to advent and what it means. The holiday season sneaks up faster with every passing year, and my relationship with the holidays becomes more bittersweet and complicated. There’s some…