Apparently there are filters on my email and social media accounts preventing any content from getting through without the words “gift guide” appearing somewhere in the text, meta description or ALT tag. This is the season of giving, and to help me prepare, my algorithm and the host of online retailers with whom I’ve ever … Continue reading The official guide to gift guides
If your algorithms are anything like mine, they have been serving you a steady diet of Mother’s Day gift guides, jokes and memes for the last few weeks. I am into it. I need all the help I can get to plan and execute a meaningful Mother’s Day for my mom and the mother of … Continue reading The best Mother’s Day gift
The element of surprise contributes mightily to the joy and wonder of Christmas. My celebration this year has been largely devoid of this crucial component thanks to technology. That’s right, efficient and convenient online tools have robbed me of another of life’s simple pleasures. I have very inefficiently and inconveniently labored to counteract these tools … Continue reading Not-so-secret Santa
Every year when the holidays roll around I face an internal struggle between capturing the magic of the past and experiencing something fresh. No two Christmases have been exactly alike, but there has been enough of a thematic throughline that my boys have expectations that we do specific activities in a certain order: Thanksgiving, breakfast … Continue reading This year will be different
There comes a time in every parent’s life when they are faced with the sudden and shocking realization that their children are no longer children. Monday morning I pulled an undershirt out of the drawer, and there at the back of the collar, just above the imprinted size and manufacturing information was the letter “L” … Continue reading Truth in labeling
Conventional wisdom is that folks with December birthdays have it the worst. Their special day gets lost in the run up to Christmas, and those with Dec. 25-31 birthdays are completely overshadowed. I think we have a contender for most under-appreciated birthday month people: that would be the January folks. After looking at our calendar for the … Continue reading Here’s to you, January birthday person
I’ll eat just about anything you can put on a plate, but I won’t admire just any plate you can put on a wall. Those plates must be historic. And Southern. And tell a story. When my wife of 15 years and I were concocting our wedding registry, (OK, let me restate that more accurately: … Continue reading Can I have a second helping of home décor?
Of all the retail-induced holidays, Father’s Day requires the most time at the greeting card shelf. It takes me forever to find something that captures the essence of the relationship I have with my dad. I don’t know who writes cards these days, but some of us would like something more meaningful than fishing, golf, … Continue reading What I want to tell my dad
Yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the day Carla Lynn Barron became my wife. Emily Post would tell me to celebrate the occasion with a gift of crystal and an arrangement of roses. Somehow, that just doesn’t seem to fit. Rather than blindly opting for tradition – a very “Old South” thing to do – … Continue reading Fifteen years and counting
The longer I am married, the less Valentine’s Day means to my relationship with my wife. I have learned that my wife operates by a simple but sometimes confusing philosophy: if everyone else is doing it, she wants no part of it. Therefore, if I come home on Valentine’s Day with a dozen red roses, … Continue reading Love means never having to say ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’
New South Essays 