Holidays

I loved holidays – Thanksgiving and Christmas in particular because there were always hordes of people, at least it seemed so to a little kid with parents, 6 siblings plus girlfriends, boyfriends, and, in a couple cases, spouses, plus a couple nieces. I don’t recall anything in particular that made it enjoyable to me – it was the laughing, the talking, the funning, the eating, the being together that defined us as a family, at least for me. And we always had a box of Ribbon Candy sitting around during the holidays, but it never was completely consumed. Or even half eaten, as I recall. The stuff was very sweet in a strange way. A small piece sufficed, even for us kids.

Some years later I remember several holidays where it was just Dad, Mom, Dennis, and me. Everybody else had moved out and moved on. Seemed strange and somewhat hollow. I missed us all being together.

BTW, the last time all 7 of us “kids” were together was in 2010. Roger’s cancer had returned and we were certain his days were numbered, so we all met in the Outer Banks, NC, and it turned out we were correct as he died a couple years later, and subsequently my brother Mike a couple years after that.