Growing up, our Thanksgiving tradition was simple, before anyone could touch the turkey or stuffing, we had to go around the table and say one thing we were thankful for. As a kid, this felt like torture. I could practically see the steam rising off the mashed potatoes, yet there we were… listing reasons to be grateful while the food got cold. To make it worse, I was usually the fifth or sixth person to go. My parents and older sisters took all the “good ones”. God, family, the house,...

Every year when I was a student, our youth group would participate in something called Trick or Treat for the Food Shelf in my hometown. It was a simple idea, middle and high school students went door-to-door collecting food staples to help our local food shelf support families heading into the holiday season. When I was in 6th grade, the concept was totally new to me. I remember feeling a little uneasy about ringing doorbells and asking for donations, even as the most intense extrovert you...

In Minnesota, it can be hard to truly pin down the end of one season and the beginning of the next. We all know that the second you put a...