Every Christmas, Grandma would buy the girls in the family new dresses. She bought them at a store called Carousel on Atlantic (in the same shopping center as the IHOP). Mom says the dresses were pricey, maybe $50 each. That was a lot in the 80s. It’s still a lot now, especially if one is buying dresses for four granddaughters.

This Christmas will be the 10th without Grandma. For a long time after her passing in January 2000, I was ambivalent towards Christmas as Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were the last days I saw Grandpa and Grandma, respectively, alive.

I’ve come around on Christmas but still miss Grandma and Grandpa. That feeling doesn’t go away.