Dana Hemelt, Author at JMORE

Dana Hemelt and her family at Disney World. (Handout photo)

The Gift of Family Travel

March 2, 2018 Dana Hemelt

My husband and I caught the travel bug around when we turned 40, and we learned that hitting the road with older kids can be fairly easy and really fun.

Your heart (Photo courtesy kaniths, Flickr Creative Commons)

Through the Eyes of Love

January 29, 2018 Dana Hemelt

I loved my small children and as they grew into older children and then teens, I was thrilled and relieved to find that I not only loved these people but I also really liked them.

Christmas cactus (Photo courtesy Flickr)

We had Hazel for a little over a week when I noticed tiny fuchsia buds on my holiday cactus. My plant has never bloomed in March; it’s never bloomed any other time but December. Yet each morning the bud was a little bigger than it was the day before.

Chanukah presents (Photo courtesy Joshua Bousel, Flickr Creative Commons)

Truly a Time for Miracles

November 28, 2017 Dana Hemelt

As an interfaith family, we celebrated Christmas and Chanukah when my sister and I were kids, and the shift to just small gifts for Chanukah is a tough one to make.

Table setting (Public Domain Photos)

Two Decades of Dinners

October 27, 2017 Dana Hemelt

We now choose restaurants with little regard for price, and we all order at least one drink and appetizer. As we’ve matured, so have our meat-and-potato palates; we have become amateur foodies in our middle age.

Acknowledging the Fears of Parenthood

September 26, 2017 Dana Hemelt

“Making the decision to have a child — it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”

Matzoh Balls (Photo courtesy Art Siegel, Flickr)

Recipes of Love Among the Generations

August 23, 2017 Dana Hemelt

Even with the seltzer substitution, the matzoh balls are dense; a dinner guest once joked that one of my matzoh balls could be used as a weapon. I took that as a compliment — my grandmother’s matzoh balls were firm and hardy, not fluffy and delicate.

School supplies (Photo courtesy Susan Larson, Flickr)

Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

July 31, 2017 Dana Hemelt

As a Type A kind of gal, I find a definite appeal to back-to-school time. I love a freshly sharpened pencil and a blank notebook, and as younger children, my son and daughter thought school supply shopping was fun.

Dana Hemelt and her family at Disney World. (Handout photo)