Posts tagged tradition

Fowl for Christmas:

Turkey is a traditional holiday meal choice. But writer Brett Laidlaw wonders if perhaps we should consider another kind of holiday fowl.

Commentator Brett Laidlaw is the author of the book and the blog Trout Caviar.

Bad Santa:

Gift giving often inspires noble intentions if less successful results. Writer David McGlynn tells us about his family’s gift giving history and how sometimes the best gift is the one you didn’t expect.

David McGlynn is the author of A Door in the Ocean and The End of the Straight and Narrow. He teaches at Lawrence University.

Aluminum Christmas:

Manitowoc’s Aluminum Specialty Company became famous for its sparkling aluminum Christmas trees in the 1960s. Jerry Waak sold millions of trees during its heyday when he ran the company’s sales force. He tells us what made them so popular.

Thanks to the Wisconsin Historical Society for the photo.

Santa Believer:

Many people take their kids to see Santa in December, and eventually have to wrestle with the question of belief. Writer Lesley Kagen tells us how she dealt with her son’s doubts about Santa.

Lesley Kagen is an actress, restaurant owner, and author. Her most recent book is Mare’s Nest.

Photo by awyatt.

Barn Dance:

Every fall for the past six years, the O’Brien family farm near Brooklyn hosts an Old Time Barn Dance that draws hundreds of people. It’s a potluck dinner and dance inside a former dairy barn. Seth Jovaag brings us the sound of this year’s event.

Hunting:

Thousands of Wisconsinites will take to the woods and fields this weekend for the nine-day gun deer season. Writer Michelle Wildgen tells us about her first hunting trip.

Michelle Wildgen is the executive editor of the literary journal Tin House and the author of the novels You’re Not You and But Not for Long. Read more about her hunting experience and the Learn to Hunt program in “Hunting for Beginners” in Grow magazine from the UW-Madison College of Agriculture.

American Water Spaniel:

Every avid hunter needs a good dog to help find and retrieve game. Commentator Bob Willging tells us about a breed of hunting dog born in Wisconsin.

Bob Willging is a wildlife biologist, an outdoors writer and the author of On the Hunt and History Afield: Stories from the Golden Age of Wisconsin Sporting Life.