When we sort through our old black and white family photos, scroll down our Facebook pages or thumb through the albums on our phones, we always stop at the memories of Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, the Valentine's, Dance or the Halloween party. The special days of our lives bring together family and friends, in some cases only once a year, and we watch children grow, fashions change, or people come and go from our lives. The stories collected here have been chosen from weekly newspaper columns written over a ten-year period and, while they are pulled from the memories of the author, they will resonate with anyone who has grown up surrounded by family. Travelling home for Christmas, choosing a Halloween costume, making a Mother's Day card or planning a Canada Day picnic are experiences most of us have had and hopefully a phrase or a sentence in this book will transport the reader back to a snow-covered road, a country kitchen table, or the memory of that perfect Christmas tree.