Saving Rain

by Kelsey Kingsley

Christmas with Gramma and Grampa had always been nice—whether Diane decided to show up or not. There were always presents, and Gramma always made a nice dinner. But the thing about Christmas with Gramma and Grampa was, it was always just us. Which was still fine and forever appreciated, especially because after they were gone, I didn’t have Christmas at all really. But it had been small, quiet, and low-key, much like everything else during my life with my grandparents. So, anytime one of the kids in school had mentioned how crazy their holiday had been, I’d fantasize about what that might’ve been like while never really knowing what to imagine. I’d seen big family get-togethers on TV plenty of times, but was that really what it was like? Or was it exaggerated for the sake of entertainment? I had never really known—that was, until I spent Christmas with Harry’s family. Harry was one of four kids, and each of them was married with children, and several of those children had children of their own. Now, somehow, they’d planned to squeeze all forty-six of those people into their little house, and although I couldn’t begin to fathom what kind of miracle they needed to pull off to make that happen, I also couldn’t wait as I helped Sarah cook dinner just hours before the guests were supposed to arrive. “It’s definitely handy, having you around,” she commented as I easily reached a baking dish from the top shelf of a cabinet. “Hey, it’s the least I can do.” I then brought down the ...