There’s my brother and his family and my family who remember our family’s festal foods. Most of them keep the holidays a bit differently than Deb and I did… And now with Deb and her family gone, Betty and Sam gone, and my not needing several tins of cookies with only Steve and me to eat them, my holidays look different than they once did.

I miss making cookies with my mom. I miss making them with Deb. I miss the smell of the house as the different cookies bake.

This used to be the saddest puzzle. Now it’s simply a puzzle. What do the holidays look… and smell… and taste like… at my house? To tell the truth, I don’t hunger for the sweet stuff. I hunger for the memory.

I think Festal Foods matter. I believe they bind people together… I don’t know what they are right now! I don’t even know exactly who my family is.

Trust me. There are worse things! Eating my way to Peace! Binding hearts in Peace. Holiday Hurrah!