Ideals magazine was launched in 1944 with a Christmas issue compiled by Van B. Hooper, a public relations manager for a Milwaukee, Wisconsin, manufacturer. Over the years it has featured the writings of well-known authors such as Edgar Guest, Sue Monk Kidd, Chris Bohjalian, Susan Allen Toth, Garrison Keillor, and many others. Now produced by Guideposts, the magazine continues its celebration of American holidays with timeless stories, quotations, poetry, recipes, and fine art illustrations. Since 2008, several of my own essays (including a few from my book, Writing Home) have been published in several issues of Ideals and its hardcover gift anthologies. This spring, my essay describing my son’s first year away from home (“Field…