Christmas Can Be Difficult With a Child at College

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. I grew up in a house without many traditions, but now that I’m married with children and have reached the rank of second-in-command, my family has several Christmas traditions. With our oldest son away at college, though, we’ve already had to alter one of them.

Our town has an annual Christmas parade on the first or second Friday evening of December, when the temperature usually dips down to the twenties and thirties. Normally I avoid snow and co...