The ghost of Christmas past

It's hard to understand.  We were never monetarily affluent.  Lower middle class would probably describe our economic stratum.  But we never wanted for anything.  There was food on the table.  There were clothes on our backs.  There were the family trips to Duluth (inside joke.  We never made it to Duluth, even though we tried several times!)  but there was never a performance, never a conference, never an event in our lives without at least one parental unit in attendance!  We were raised with love and the overwhelming desire to respond in kind.  It explains a lot.  Then I got older, left home, and married into an amazing family.  Christmas was all about being together (even though I didn't make the best first impression when the first Christmas we spent together I was in the kitchen helping with dishes and I twirled my towel to snap Cath and was told "we don't do that in our family!"). Another circle of love.  Call it fate.  Call it luck, but those circles have made every day Christmas!  And the joy is, that continues!  So tonight, as this Christmas passes, I revel in my good fortune, and pass onto you the emanation of those circles.  Your Are Loved!