Dear Faithful Readers and Adoring Fans (all three of you), Because of the overwhelming demand for more insider gossip from the first family of New South Essays, I am once again releasing the official Wallace family Christmas letter through this wildly popular platform. Last year’s clickbait edition generated so much traffic that it’s clear our … Continue reading The Official Wallace Family Christmas Letter 2024
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
Thanksgiving week is upon us, and as we prepare our feasts and plan our shopping, the inevitable flood of nostalgia descends, flavoring our post-meal conversations with reminiscence. Always eager to indulge my inclination toward nostalgia, I offer these brief stories of Thanksgivings past to prompt you to remember and share your Thanksgiving memories. Our spread … Continue reading Memorable Thanksgivings
We’re conditioned from kindergarten to anticipate a significant break from industrious activity at the end of the calendar year. I’m sure you remember those halcyon days when playground conversations focused on what you were going to ask Santa to bring you for Christmas, the construction paper Christmas tree crafts, the classroom Christmas party, the church … Continue reading Holiday countdown-itis
This week the Lilburn Wallaces will gather around our dining room table for a feast of turkey, dressing and all the fixins. I have committed to enjoying this day fully because I don’t know if 2023 will be the last time we enjoy our Thanksgiving this way. Traditions have a way of ending unintentionally or … Continue reading When traditions end
This week's "Rethinking" podcast from organizational psychologist Adam Grant prompted us to rethink the choices we've made parenting our three boys. Adam interviewed Dr. Becky Kennedy, who is rapidly becoming the Millennial Generation's answer to Dr. Spock, the noted pediatrician not the Vulcan science officer on "Star Trek." She challenged the notion that parents' job … Continue reading Choices in childrearing
We have to be careful when we plan something special for our family because if we do it once, the boys will insist on making it a tradition. This is especially true of Christmas. We begin the season by decorating our home the weekend after Thanksgiving, often getting a jump by hauling the bins of … Continue reading Christmas traditions
It wasn’t that long ago that a birthday was just that – a day. In the New South, however, we celebrate a person’s birthday for many, many days. I have a theory about why this is: It takes us longer to celebrate birthdays now because of geographic dispersion of family, over-stuffed schedules and the vicious … Continue reading More than a day
As temperatures down South dip into the 40s and 50s, tasteful seasonal decorating requires at least one nice gourd on the front porch. Some of you have been so eager for fall temperatures that you ran out and bought a pumpkin when they first arrived in stores or when the pumpkin patches first opened in … Continue reading Get thee to a pumpkin patch
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
New South Essays 