First, I should clarify that I am not a movie buff, so if you are, please don’t call me up to tell me how much I don’t know. My favorite movies star Belle, Cinderella, and Rapunzel. In fact, I only know that the Academy Awards are in February because Ed Bradley says so in his column. But here’s my opinion as a non-movie buff. I find most movies nowadays to be unnecessarily long; I think somewhere along the way directors fell prey to the idea that longer equals better. In docu-drama type films, it always feels to me like the film is peppered with a bunch of random, pseudo-artsy scenes that have no bearing on the plot, and in action movies, the same long, disorienting (fake) fight scenes seem to take place over and over.

She got me thinking about something that happened to my son, Jeff, when he was six years old. My husband and a friend took Jeff and his older brother, Matthew, to the auto show in Detroit. The event was jam-packed with people, so my husband bought balloons and tied them around the boys’ wrists. His reasoning was that if they were to wander off and get lost in the crowd, they would be easier to find. And believe me, Jeff was known to frequently wander out of sight. He was a cute little boy with curly blonde hair, blue eyes and a sweet smile. But his middle name could have been Dennis the Menace, as trouble seemed to follow him everywhere he went. So, my husband was not too surprised when, after looking away for just a second, Jeff was no longer at his side. But he wasn’t too worried, as he could see the “locator balloon” bobbing in the distance.

The reason many of us fail at keeping resolutions is that we set goals that are impossible to reach. Don’t run … take baby steps. Start by taking a daily walk. I always told myself it was just too darned cold to walk in the winter. But I made a conscious decision to bundle up and walk three times a week. Each day it got a little easier and it was invigorating to be outside in the fresh, cold air.

I got married in May 2014, and I noticed that as I researched trends and advice for various articles, I was sad. As I studied DIY methods, I remembered the fun I had creating the favors for my wedding with my family. As I looked at photos of gorgeous gowns, I remembered the fun of having my mom’s wedding dress altered to fit me. Finally, I realized that I missed the planning, the excitement, and the anticipation. Perhaps I even missed the attention I received as a bride …

When I was but a young lad, I created a game that became a New Year’s Eve tradition in the Ribner family home. That said, I was the only one who actually enjoyed it. The game appealed to my inner schadenfreude – pleasure derived from others’ misfortune – and it was designed to poke a little fun at my long-suffering younger brother. I called it “New Year’s Sucker” and as its name implies, the game was designed to make the loser feel like a fool, a chump and a sap.

While I was raised a Catholic, I chose long ago to follow a different spiritual path. My adopted faith is called Asatru, which means “true to the Aesir gods,” and it’s a modern reconstruction of the ancient pagan faith of northern Europe. As a heathen – what we Asatruar call ourselves – I venerate Odin, Thor and the other gods of the ancient Norse pantheon, and live by the Nine Noble Virtues: courage, truth, honor, fidelity, discipline, hospitality, self-reliance, industriousness and perseverance. I won’t burden you with how I came to choose this path; but suffice to say, these ancient deities and the qualities they represent resonate within me like nothing else ever has, and I’m proud to have pledged myself to Odin long ago.

Christmas music, much like the holiday itself, features two very different, and sometimes competing, influences: “Ho Ho Ho” joviality, and the nativity of Christ. It’s sufficed to say that Frosty the Snowman is not topping my list of favs.

I long for the simple Christmases of my past. Christmas was a big deal but it wasn’t about presents. It was about tradition. It was the traditions that we enjoyed every year, things that brought the whole family together. We spent the month before Christmas making cookies and candies. We made sugar cookies, chocolate chip, peanut brittle and old-fashioned fudge with Hershey’s cocoa – all stored in festive tins in anticipation of holiday get-togethers. The windows of our home were simply dressed with fresh pine sprigs and old-fashioned Christmas lights. The movie A Christmas Story wasn’t shown 24 hours a day on cable TV. It was a one-time event and we all sat down together to watch it with a big bowl of popcorn and Coca-Cola.

If you read my column with any regularity, you know that I love to cook, and November is the month when I get to prepare my most favorite meal: Thanksgiving dinner. Like most folks, I cook a traditional turkey dinner, but what makes it special to me is that each dish I serve is a reminder of Thanksgivings past.

As the destination for many a Ribner family outing, Michigan’s Little Bavaria played a big role in my childhood. My brother and I would become filled with excitement each time the family car turned north onto M-83 on its way to our destination: the Bavarian Inn. In addition to its delicious chicken dinners, our father, the son of Slovak immigrants, loved the old world charm of the restaurant’s Austrian and Alpine rooms. Perhaps this is why I long to live in a fachwerk, a timber-framed, stucco house set inside a deep and enchanting forest…

During my time with Lori and Julie, I felt the weight of the burden that they carry around every day. “The jail is a dark place, a sad and sometimes evil place,” said Lori, who admitted that some days she wants to despair and give up because what she sees is just too painful. Despite those moments of hopelessness, she said, “I can feel the presence of God walking with me, and I know his work has to be done here.” The women have such a sincere love for their patients that it wrings the heart. “I look at every single one of them as if they were part of my family,” Lori told me with tears in her eyes. “This person could be my mother, my brother, my child who’s been broken by this world. Are we just going to abandon them? We’re all brothers and sisters.”