Steve Fernlund and The Long Way Home

Now that Christmas 2024 is over, I find myself reflecting on our family's holiday traditions, including Christmas.  When our kids were young, we lived in the Twin Cities. We counted on a tradition my dad began, unknowingly, to celebrate Memorial Day, Labor Day, and even the Fourth of July. There was no real pre-planning for those days. My dad would call the house in the morning and say, "Yeah, shall we have a picnic today?" Having no other plans, because we knew the tradition, we always said, "Sure. When and where?" I don't know if that counts as tradition or habit, but we'd always get together for beans, chips, and hotdogs on those days. On the Fourth, after the picnic, we'd go to Veteran's Park in Richfield to sit in the grass, munch popcorn, dodge firecrackers and sparklers, and watch the fireworks. We lived in the Twin Cities for the first twenty-plus years of wedded bliss. So did my parents and sister and both sides of the Bohunk's famil...