CNU-My daughter-in-law said Christmas would be easier if I stayed away, and my son did not even raise his eyes to defend me. So I stayed home, alone, exactly as requested. …

and accepted the answer only because no one laughed.

After dishes, when the windows had gone black and the fire had burned down to patient red coals, Raymond brought over the worn deck blanket Ellen used to drape across her knees and dropped beside my chair.

“Grandpa,” he said, “tell the one about Dad hooking his own jacket.”

Susan rolled her eyes in continue reading …