THINGS I WISH MY KIDS WOULD ASK ME

Editor's note: Barry Courter has a 24-year-old son who is a college graduate and a 19-year-old daughter who is a sophomore in college.

Q: Dad, we are heading into the meat of the holiday season and it seems to me the "traditions" we have seem to change every couple of years. Why is that?

A: Interesting question. I'd say you are correct, and there are several reasons. Work schedules, extended families and their schedules, and the fact that you guys are growing up are probably the main ones. We've just tried to adapt and be flexible, but I don't know anyone who celebrates the holidays the same way they did 10 or 20 years ago. It's not like in the movies where everybody spends a week at Grandma's giant house in the country, and I'm not sure it ever was.