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Category: My Ever-Changing Family

Fifteen Patriotic Holiday Gifts for the Worried Progressives on Your List

Patriotic holiday gifts: The American flag is spread at a Warriors basketball game in Oakland, CA. Photo by Barbara Newhall

I’m giving patriotic holiday gifts this year — donations to groups that can help keep our country sane during the stormy Trump years ahead. Read more.

Christmas Is Big. Bigger Than Christianity — And Donald Trump

The Parrocchia church spires in San Miguel de Allende, where Christmas is big. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Christmas is big. Christianity’s biggest holiday is leaving the religion in the dust with 15 times the Internet mentions of Christianity. Read more.

One Broken Ankle, and Two Lives Grind to a Halt. Or, Why You Should Definitely Stop and Tie That Loose Shoelace

A 75-year-old man with his broken ankle in a cast in a hospital bed in his den with TV. Photo by Barbara Newhall

I’m doing my wifey thing. My husband has a broken ankle and I’m taking care of him. That means I’m exhausted. And grumpy. Read more.

The Turkeys at Our House, Dead and Alive

Turkeys at our house: live in our back yard. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Every year at this time we have a bunch of turkeys at our house. One comes in a shopping bag; the others arrive on their own two feet. Read more.

My Ancestral Ghosts — Are They Haunting This Halloween House in Minnesota?

Are my ancestral ghosts haunting this Red Wing house decorated for Halloween. Barbara Falconer Newhall traveled to Red Wing, MN, to look for her 3x great-grandmother's houses. This house, a duplex, built in 1920, stands at the location on Third St. where her ancestor lived. Photos by Barbara Newhall

Could my ancestral ghosts be haunting this Halloween house in Red Wing, Minnesota? I wanted to think so. Read more.

The Bride Said Yes to the Dress . . . The Mother-of-the-Bride Diaries Begin

Seamstress and saleswoman Nordstrom fit a bride with a wedding dress. Yes to the dress. Photo by Barbara Newhall

The woman said yes to The Dress, the one she’ll be wearing on her wedding day. With that, her mother opened a credit card account and placed the order. Read more.

Wedding Dress Shopping — When Your Daughter Lets You Tag Along

Bride in plaid dress contemplates an array of irvory wedding gowns at Le Marriage bridal shop, Los Angeles. Wedding dress shopping. Photo by Barbara Newhall

When I went wedding dress shopping forty years ago, I went all by myself. My daughter was smarter. She phoned and asked me to go with her. Read more.

Airbnb — When a Home Away From Home Gets Way Too Homey

It's no Airbnb, but rather a real Bed and Breakfast, cluttered but clean and cozy. Candlewyck House, Pentwater, MI. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Airbnb is supposed to be a good deal — homey and cheap. But maybe, really I’d be better off in a real bed and breakfast like this one. Read more.

My Long-Lost Dead Ancestors — I Found Them in a Parking Lot

The 1600 block of Minneapolis's Seventh Avenue South where my long-lost dead ancestors once lived is now a parking lot fronted by high rises. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Yes, you can locate your long-gone ancestors. You can pin them down to an exact place. Sometimes it’s a parking lot. Read more.

My Big Brother Loves Me — The Cataract Chronicles Continued

In 1962, when Barbara Falconer Newhall returned from summer in Europe with souvenirs for family. Barbara Newhall photo

When my big brother saw me without glasses for the first time in a half century, his reaction took me by surprise. Read more.

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