When my mom died and my sister and I divvied up her belongings that my father did not need, I ended up with the coveted “The New Fannie Farmer Boston Cooking-School Cook Book.” It was profoundly sentimental to me because it was the duct-taped book that my parents had used to prepare our world famous Holiday Egg Nog. While the fabulous Walker Family Christmas Eve Party dated back to the early 1970s, the addition of the Holiday Egg Nog did not come to be part of the tradition until I was in high school or college. I’m going to take full credit for adding it to our lineup of Midnight Rum Balls and the Green family’s peanut butter chocolate thingies. I simply said what a great idea it would be to make our own egg nog than buy that nonalcoholic... [Read more]

Last weekend we hit another milestone. Truman went to his first Alabama football game. We were offered some posh seats in a skybox with a steady line of tasty snacks and a bottomless cooler of beverages. I suspect our son has been spoiled senseless. Wonder how he’ll react next time when he is forced to sit in the bleachers. Alabama is my husband’s team. He grew up during the glory days of Bear Bryant, and he still remembers seeing the mighty coach standing on the sidelines or watching him eat Golden Flake potato chips on TV. If you think Alabama fans have put the Bear years behind them, you haven’t met my husband. My son is an LSU fan. We’re not sure how it happened. Truman pledged his allegiance to the purple-and-gold a few weeks before... [Read more]

Reports of children’s fingertips being amputated by strollers has triggered a massive recall. Maclaren Strollers in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, CPSC, issued the voluntary recall today, warning consumers that they should stop using the recalled strollers immediately because the stroller’s hinge mechanism poses a fingertip amputation and laceration hazard to the child when the consumer is unfolding/opening the stroller. To date, Maclaren has received 15 reports of children placing their fingers in the stroller’s hinge mechanism, resulting in 12 reports of fingertip amputation in the United States. The recall includes about one million single and double Maclaren Strollers distributed nationally at Babies... [Read more]

I swiped this from my sister’s Facebook page. It’s a great feel-good video aptly named “Anti-Depression Video.” I think any parent would dig this. For centuries, people have touted the benefits of laughter. Experts say that a good laugh can reduce stress by relaxing tense muscles and energizing you by sending more oxygen into your bloodstream. It has also been shown to lower blood pressure. Loma Linda University School of Medicine researchers Drs. Lee Berk and Stanley Tan have conducted studies that show laughter lowers serum cortisol levels, increases the amount of activated T lymphocytes, increases the number and activity of natural killer cells, and increases the number of T cells that have helper/suppresser receptors. What that... [Read more]

When I was 7, I learned the truth about Santa. Sort of. My friend Emily said Santa was not some jolly old elf who appeared in the night and left presents under the tree, but was really my father who would crawl out of bed and pull toys from the closet. I suppose I knew Emily was telling the truth, but inside I wanted to believe Santa was real. It was back when my family and I used to eat dinner around the dining room table that I made the announcement to my parents. “I know the truth about Santa. It’s you, Dad. You’re Santa.” My father put his fork down, placed his hands on the table and sighed. “You’re right, kiddo. I am Santa. And it is extremely exhausting getting up late at night, calling together the reindeer, and hitting every... [Read more]