December 3, 2012

Here's Smarty-Pants, Home for the Holidays

Here's Smarty-Pants, Home for the Holidays 1

Matt Roth for The Chronicle

Melissa Boone, a doctoral student at Columbia U., at Thanksgiving: "Even though I'm part of the family," she says, "I have one foot out."

By Stacey Patton

When Melissa Boone visits her family for the holidays, she is enveloped by the clatter of pots and pans and the smell of collard greens, ham drizzled with maple syrup, and pumpkin cheesecake. For the first few hours, she revels in what she describes as the "comfortable chaos" of her relatives' townhouse, in Sewell, N.J.

Everyone talks at the same time, kids run and play, and football is on the television. Inside the small kitchen, the women stir, bake, gossip, and laugh.

But