Missing Christmas
I never knew anything about how special big family gatherings were until I married Mike. When we got married, I became blessed with three grandparents who treated me like I belonged from the first day I met them. I remember the 5th Sunday dinners at Grandma Baughman's when everyone brought food and we all squeezed into a very small house to enjoy dinner together. I remember Christmas Eve in the basement at Grandma and Grandpa Perry's house -- playing Euchre at a card table and kids running around while dinner was cooking upstairs, and everyone fighting over who would (and wouldn't) wear the Santa suit. When we moved away from Indiana in 1990, even when it was an 11-hour drive, we always made it home for Christmas. We had Christmas Eve at Grandma Perry's, Christmas morning at my mom's house, and Christmas evening at my mother-in-law's house. The travel was tough sometimes and I remember some very scary and snowing drives from Pennsylvania to Indiana. But it was a...