You may read this entry’s title and immediately think of a stream of ungenerous ideas. Something along the lines of, “My kids can learn firsthand what a cheap, lying, no-good, rotten, low-life, snake-licking, dirt-eating, overstuffed, ignorant, blood-sucking, brainless, hopeless, heartless, bug-eyed, worm-headed their mother is.” (With apologies and acknowledgements to the brilliant screenwriting of John Hughes1 in National Lampoon’s Christmas ...