First Christmas Without

(I have been away from this blog for a while. I’ll write about that later.)

In my family growing up, Christmas dinner took place on Christmas Eve. The meal was open to guests, but realistically we rarely had anyone there but our immediate family; grandparents, aunts, and uncles were too far away, and with occasional exceptions my friends and my brother’s friends went home to their own families. The meal was always the same: turkey, creamed onions, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, candied swe...