Seasons that bring family close seem to be far and few between but when they happen, treasure them. Even before the pandemic years, there have been falling out moments in my family. Arguments that didn’t get resolved. Political differences. Different beliefs. The list goes on. We used to be so close. I couldn’t have imagined years ago spending the holidays apart. More and more, it comes down to pockets of us getting together for this or that. It’s sad the whole group isn’t together anymore but I guess that’s just the way things are going to be.

I’m not going to pretend that we’ve all always gotten along on everything or there haven’t been disagreements but none that kept us from celebrating holidays together. We used to get together to work around my mom’s yard for a combined gift of her birthday and mother’s day gifts each year as…