Dear Lauren,
My memories of our Christmas vacations warm my heart. This time of year is so special because it gives families a chance to connect and spend time together having fun. I look forward to this year’s vacation. Nothing is more important and special then spending time with family. Hopefully next year we can add more of our loving family to our days together. This is my Hanukkah wish.

Love,
Mom

My, My, I know too well how you feel and I’m sorry for you. I was raised in a large family, where we got together every single holiday at our mom’s house. People who lived alone on my mom’s street, thought she was so lucky to have many friends but none of her visitors were friends of hers, they were her own children with their children and it carried on for many years, until it happened. For years our mom and father divorced, and we hung out more with our mom and a lot of the time, our father would come over to visit along with us. We first lost our father in 2005, but we kept up the visits at our mom’s house until she became ill with Alzheimer’s and she could no longer cook for us. That’s when some of the family didn’t come around too often and that’s when the siblings began to separate from each other and only a few would come around. We finally lost our mom in 2016, and to this day, I haven’t even seen some of my family members. You would think we would keep tradition alive for our parents, but it didn’t happen and it’s totally sad. It’s like since the parents are gone, we no longer have to see each other or hang together any longer. So I definitely know how you feel about the fun get togethers, they were the best of times.