Round Two: Christmas, like Hanukkah, can offer a lesson in resilience

It’s been the better part of 40 to 50 years now, but I still vividly remember the big Christmas Day family gatherings at my grandparents’ house in Brimfield.

The excitement of pulling into the driveway already filled with cars. Walking into the house and seeing everyone wearing spiffy new clothes that up until a few hours earlier had been sitting wrapped in a box under their Christmas tree. A cacophony of conversation reverberating throughout the house while we kids snooped around Grandma and Grandpa’s tree, looking for gifts with our names on them. And eating Christmas dinner in the dining room, with my cousins and I relegated to the flimsy little card table designated for the youngest generation while the older members of the family ate at the large table in the middle of the room.