On Christmas Eve, the men at the Cabin John Volunteer Fire Department get juiced up and drive one of the fire engines around the...

My parents were friends with the Connors for many years. Mom worked with Faye at the University. Faye was a professor and Willis worked...

My mother favors a balsam fir tree. We go to Bethesda or Friendship Heights to get one. It takes time to pick the right one out, time...

Five days before Christmas, my mother phoned me and asked me to bring mashed potatoes for the Christmas table. I agreed, potatoes being...

Like many ladies of her time, my grandmother Ruth is enamored of the story of Little Lord Fauntleroy. While I doubt she ever read the...

My father’s mother is one of 12 children in the Schaal family of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Like a lot of families in this area, they...

Like many people, Shirley drives more slowly the older she gets. But she took umbrage with those around her who wanted to go faster. “I’m...

In the old days, the woman of the house and the daughters spent long hours preparing Thanksgiving dinner. So it is at our house. John,...

John gets up very early, 5:30, to go to work. He cannot boil an egg but makes himself toast and coffee. On the rare occasion when one of...

When John arrives, he decides that we should all eat together. We rarely have a meal with Dad besides holidays. He can’t stand eating...

Pic Temple with his horse Piccolo and dog Lady. His show ran from 1948 to 1961. There’s a popular children’s show in Washington, with...

After four years, John comes back around. Amazingly, Shirley still loves him. He decides he’ll commute to Cabin John from Chambersburg on...

With all the changes in our lives, with fathers going and coming, you would think nothing can surprise me. Then the day comes when Dad...

After a show of reluctance to leave, Mom moves Dad into his basement apartment, 20 minutes away from home on MacArthur Blvd. in the city....

Many people considering divorce choose in the end the stay together for the sake of the kids. As traumatic as my parents’ divorce was, I...

Some years ago, my husband Perry and I met his brother Whitney and his wife for lunch at a seafood place near Deal, Maryland. Perry's...

After years of economic strife, Hjalmar finally lands a job with the Federal government in Washington, D.C., and the family moves to...

When they buy their own house in Lombard, Hjalmar decides to change careers. He joins a brokerage house. The year is 1929. A bread line...

My mother Shirley is born April 22, 1922, an only child with parents who are unable to give her much love. They live in Lombard,...

One disaster that could have been averted at our house is the tragic death of the television set. It sits on a high rolling stand in...