“Everyone is at war, except for me. One uncle is fighting with...

“Everyone is at war, except for me.  One uncle is fighting with the other.  My aunt’s not talking to Grandma.  Grandma isn’t talking to anyone.  She said that nobody’s coming to her house this year.  Christmas is cancelled.  I guess it’s always been like this.  But now everyone’s old enough that they don’t have to pretend for the kids anymore.  All of it’s out in the open.  I miss the ignorance of childhood.  When we’d all go to church, cook a big dinner, gather in a circle to read the Polar Express, and I wouldn’t notice that the adults were talking to the children more than each other.”