Christ, Coffee, and Cornfields

   The holiday season is here, which means that many of us will be attending family gatherings of some kind. With lots of people together under one roof, there will more than likely be differences of opinions, which is totally fine! The thing is, not everyone knows how to disagree well. I don't claim to be an expert in the area of debate, but there are some general rules of etiquette that everyone should probably be reminded of if you plan to discuss anything remotely controversial. Remember your relationship. At the end of the day, you're still family. Yeah, squabbles happen, but you can't escape family; they'll always be in your life. Keep it clean. A cardinal rule of debate is to keep personal jabs off the table. It's one thing to throw in a harmless joke or to tease someone, but if you want to have a productive conversation, leave hurtful comments out of it. To booze or not to booze? This is one where you really need to know yourself and your counterpart. If alc...

  The holidays are quickly approaching! I'm not quite sure what happened to 2018, but it has definitely been a fast paced year. Thanksgiving is just a couple weeks away and Christmas is hot on its heels. It is so easy to get caught up in the to dos of the season. There are people to see, gifts to buy, decorations to put up, places to go, yards and houses to prep for winter, and all of that is on top of the busyness that consumes our day to day lives! Sometimes, though, it seems like the buildup to this time of year overshadows what we're actually supposed to celebrate.   I count myself among the guilty when it comes to piling my plate too full, both when it comes to the holiday foods and my schedule. Sometimes I look back on my week and feel that I accomplished nothing of value even though I was busy every single day. If I'm being honest with myself, though, my time is often consumed with social media and needless stresses. I feel this now more than ever as my schedule fi...