Hello SE friends. Gwen with you today.

Winter is upon us in the northern hemisphere, and the change of seasons and related celebrations prompt today’s post.

In the United States, we recently enjoyed Thanksgiving, and in a couple of weeks, we celebrate Christmas. Since the beginning of time, we humans have found reasons to revel.We’re social animals, and as far back as 7,000 BC, we enjoyed alcohol. Where folks are having a drink, there’s a good chance they’re celebrating something—the harvest, a full moon, a marriage, a birthday, a ball game, a reunion. The list is lengthy. We like to gather and laugh with others, don’t we?

For writers, holidays and celebrations help us situate and stage our stories. Readers have a sense of time when there’s a parade or an exchange of gifts. There’s also the inevitable chaos—children running wild, old resentments surfacing, and burnt meals. Those hiccups and…