HOUSE Here’s a fun new trend you can worry about: Title Inflation. It first took root in large organizations. There, it’s an accepted practice that instead of rewarding job performance with money — as in giving an employee a raise — businesses hand out lofty yet meaningless titles. That’s why every ...

HOUSE Another year, another list of random observations: Why do we personify years? January First is literally just the next day. Yet we speak about a calendar year as if it were a character in a 1940s radio play. At Walmart on Black Friday I saw many people hauling out large TVs. Is that still a th...

In 1845, my ancestors, the Fritzes of Dillenburg, Germany, made the decision to emigrate to the new Republic of Texas. My third great-grandparents, Georg Johann Fritze and Katarina Becker Fritze, probably learned about the opportunity in Texas from Otfried Hans Freiherr von Meusebach, who became Joh...

Those interested in Christmas eclectic can view nativity scenes composed of rubber duckies, bears or crocheted people at the Holy Ghost Lutheran Churc...

HOUSE What would you do if you didn’t have to do anything? Lately, I seem to know a lot of people who have reached that point in life when they no lon...

HOUSE One of our favorite family excursions while raising our combined DNA was attending the Texas Folklife Festival. Held every summer on the grounds...