I inhaled the scent of pine with every breath as I lay beneath the boughs, presents pushed to either side of me. This was my own little holiday tradition. It had started when I was a kid. I’d come out to shake my presents, as any reasonable ten-year-old would do, and when my dad caught me, he didn’t scold me for snooping. Instead, he pushed aside the presents and invited me to tree-gaze with him. I thought he was ridiculous. But as we lay there, under the tree, he’d talked to me, really talked to me, about the importance of family, how much we all meant to him, about life’s wonders, and how
...more
