The DHX: The Doughtie Houses Exchange

By Jill Davis Doughtie

Bloody Marys are a long standing Christmas morning Doughtie tradition. We spend our Christmas mornings together, and now that I’ve joined the clan, we make Bloody Marys two ways: the hard core Clamato version, which is a recipe handed down from G’s mom, and the Spicy V-8 version, which comes from a [...]

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Lisa Cohn’s A Stepfamily Christmas is that wacky, heartwarming, true story that I think we’ve all been hoping to find about ex-partners spending Christmas together for the sake of the kids and growing to love and enjoy it over time. Check it out. This story gives me even more faith that we’re doing the right [...]

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Sewing new pictures and details on the stockings is my favorite part of the holidays. Sewing quiets the worry part of my brain. My brain follows its rhythms, thinks a space ahead and generates ideas as I need them. I’m in flow. Sewing is my own. It’s not a holiday tradition in any of our [...]

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I keep this list of human needs posted on the refrigerator to help myself articulate what’s going on with me. Here are the things I find myself wanting deeply around holiday times:

acceptance
affection
appreciation
belonging
inclusion
to be seen
to be known
to be understood
presence
safety
choice
freedom
space

It’s not that it’s anyone’s (or any group of people’s) job to intuit what I want or to [...]

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