Let’s face it, holidays just bring out the worst in some of us. Instead of being grateful we have a job, food on the table, our health, children that might actually graduate from high school (maybe even college if we keep our fingers crossed), a partner that doesn’t beat us and isn’t in jail, we still find a way to ruin a perfectly good Thanksgiving. Take this family for example...

McDonald's seems an unlikely place for staging quality conversation with your 10-year-old, but for Susan McCorkindale of Confessons of a Counterfeit Farm Girl it's become a weekly haven of sorts. Her spare prose describing her son's reaction to change, and her resistance to smoothing over his fear with false assurances, resonated with her readers.

Late this summer, my father died. I'm still grieving the loss. I will be grieving the loss for the rest of my life. But the rest of life is a very long time, and there are many days to get through, and so I work very hard on coping and I think that I'm doing pretty well. But some days are harder than others. Some days are much harder than others. Holidays are the hardest.

CNN and bloggers report that the body of 5-year-old Shaniya Davis of Fayetteville, NC, has been found. Earlier today 200 people searched for the child's body after police received a tip that she was dead, say news sources.

What do you do when one spouse wants another child and the other does not? Add advanced maternal age and one fallopian tube to the equation and you have a recipe for disaster. I am an only child and in my ideal world would be the mother of two children. However, my desire may not be fulfilled. My husband is not too keen about having another child, I've heard every excuse from the economy to sleep deprivation and am honestly at my wits end.

First they called her "that girl". Then, "madam". Eventually, they referred to her as "sir."

Have you ever noticed how people use the term “cobbled together” when referring to their maternity leave?

A woman named Lynsee just gave birth online and I didn't watch. Perhaps it is a testament to how greatly I'm affected by the stories of loss I've read, but knowing what can go wrong in birth, I didn't want to witness a live-feed of emotional anguish. Also a testament to how greatly influenced I am by my own story and those of others in the community, knowing what can go right in birth, I didn't want to witness their enormous joy knowing how out-of-reach it is for 7.3 million Americans.

Of course there is always turkey; its skin golden and and slightly crisp, its meat moist, juicy, and cooked to perfection. The chestnut colored gravy is never lumpy and has a hint of red wine. She doesn’t like what is the best part of the meal for the rest of us, the unparalleled apple, cranberry stuffing. It took years but we finally convinced her to make double the recipe so we wouldn’t fight over the minuscule portions. Side dishes are always the same: rice and sausage casserole, brussel sprouts with bacon and brown sugar  whipped sweet potatoes.

I first became aware of the buzz about Sapphire's debut novel Push in 1995 or 1996. The novel gained attention for its distressing storyline but possibly more because the novelist received a $500,000 advance, a sum unheard of in those days for a first novel. Well, unheard of except that another writer that year had received even more, Jacquelyn Mitchard.

It’s about to be “The Holidays” and gift season is upon us. And what to get for the baby who has everything?

Today is the last day of October and of Domestic Violence Awareness month. Obviously in what I would believe to be a better world such an observance would be completely unnecessary.