December 2025
As years go, I have to say this one was a bit of a mixed bag.
Personally, it was great. My son is engaged to be married, and he started his second year of med school in the fall.
It’s weird with schools that are on quarter systems because it feels like they move faster but, technically, don’t.
Since I graduated from the University of Chicago myself, I understood it better than other parents who had gone to semester colleges.
My daughter graduated from college this winter, and when I asked her if she was going to attend the spring convocation ceremony in June to get the whole walking experience, she said no.
She’d be too busy, as she would be neck-deep in her master’s program by then.
Plus, she would be working at Sutter as well.
So the small ceremony was all we’d get, just as we had with her brother.
Neither one of them was big hoopla people.
Smaller intimate ceremonies with family and close friends was more their speed.
This year, Hannah’s birthday fell on the Friday after Thanksgiving, and even though I wanted to take her out for a lavish birthday, it was the big twenty-one after all, my girl could not have been less interested.
All she wanted to do was have a great Thanksgiving and eat leftovers all weekend long and watch TV and just basically be a vegetable.
My husband thought this was the best idea she’d ever had, so we planned on our normal Thanksgiving open house, because at eighty-one, Regina was not about spending the day cooking anymore.
She loved to help and supervise, but she was also very keen on sitting at the kitchen table, sipping wine and talking to Aja and Dylan, who she preferred to both of her daughters.
I scolded her about that, but she just waved a dismissive hand at me.
Now for the news you’ve all been waiting for: Michael was not cheating on Sandra.
“He wasn’t?” Dylan asked midafternoon on Thanksgiving, sitting across from me, sucking on the straw of her drink.
“Are you sure?” Aja did not sound convinced as she stirred with her pink plastic straw, wanting to get the whipped cream down into the middle of the frothy concoction.
“This is exactly what I asked him,” Regina chimed in before sucking on her own red glitter straw. Everyone got a different color. “I mean, I know he’s my child, and I love him, but he does not have a good track record with women.”
“Not at all,” Aja stated.
“And I asked him this time, I said, Michael, this seems fast to me. Why are you rushing? It’s only been a month.”
“I didn’t realize it was that fast,” Aja commented.
“What’d Michael say to that?” Dylan asked Regina.
“He said when you know, you know.”
“Well, that’s true,” Aja said, slurping her drink that she’d already had three of.
“What was the name of the girl who was named after a flower?” Regina questioned me.
“Why are you bringing her up?”
“Just for my clarification.”
“Petunia?” Dylan offered. “Poppy? Pansy?”
“Periwinkle?” Aja threw out.
I groaned. “It was Posey.”
“Oh yes,” Regina said, patting my hand. “Now, that one he dated longer than Sandra.”
“But they both knew it was right,” I reminded her. “And you like Sandra. You said she was lovely.”
“She is lovely, but she’s also particular about things. And when I cook, sometimes she eats and sometimes she doesn’t.”
Aja turned to me. “I noticed that as well. Like, last time she loved my mac ’n’ cheese, and then the next time, she said she didn’t want any and it was too rich for her.”
“She just changed her mind. People can do that.”
“Can they?” Dylan asked, squinting at me.
“Yes,” I insisted. “Why’re you being like this? You liked her when you met her. And aren’t we all particular about certain things?”
“Are we?”
“You’re trying to make me insane,” I told her.
“Not me. I’m not particular about anything,” Regina announced imperiously.
I turned to her. “You will change into a pillar of salt or something for lying.”
“I think you’re getting your Bible stories mixed up,” Regina said, and then after a moment, she smiled. “But your point is well taken.”
I leaned into her, and she kissed my forehead before putting an arm around me.
“Fine, we will all be less judgmental and cut her some slack,” Aja granted. “But if Michael wasn’t cheating, what was with all the crying on the plane back that Aaron reported?”
I sighed deeply. “Apparently, another partner from his work was over consulting with a decorator on Michael’s behalf.”
“He was having a colleague from work help him talk to his decorator?”
“Yep.”
“I told Jory, I would be annoyed as well,” Regina stated. “But I wouldn’t have cried. I would have thanked his colleague for being there and then sent her packing right then and there.”
“Same,” Aja seconded.
Dylan was scowling.
“What?”
“I mean, let’s face it, none of our husbands would be stupid enough to go work in another city. People only do the long-distance relationship if they’re forced to do so.”
“Quite true,” Regina agreed. “But apparently, Sandra was absolutely humiliated, and hurt, by Michael not asking her to decorate for him, and the whole thing is a mess now.”
“Is Michael coming home for Thanksgiving?” Aja asked Regina.
“Yes, but Sandra’s not sure if she wants to see him,” she answered with a sigh.
“Did you invite both of them over here today?” Dylan asked me.
“I did, but you know she’s not crazy about the way I do my Thanksgiving open house,” I pointed out.
“Why not?” Dylan asked. “It’s awesome. You get to come, leave, come back, drink, sit, visit, it’s the best.”
“Thank you,” I said, grinning at her.
“And whatever the hell these are that Hannah’s making,” she said, slurping up the bottom of the frothy pink concoction that my daughter had given her when she walked in the door, “everyone should be drinking these.”
“Hi, guys,” Hannah said cheerfully, reaching the table with a large pitcher of what looked like strawberry smoothies. “Who wants another daiquiri?”
Three women lifted their tall glasses for her.
“You’re all gonna be drunk off your asses,” Jake commented drolly, having followed my daughter with another pitcher and a jumbo can of whipped cream. “I don’t think she’s using the right rum.”
“What rum is she using?” I asked him.
“A dark one, not the light one.”
“Oh who cares,” Hannah pronounced. “It’s Thanksgiving. None of us are going anywhere, Jacob. Live a little.”
He rolled his eyes as Hannah filled all the glasses but mine. I was sticking with moscato at the moment.
“When we play charades later, it’s gonna be a hoot.”
He squinted at her.
“What?”
“A hoot? How old are you?”
She waved him off as the doorbell rang.
It was Finn, with his parents, and he happily dumped his mother at the kitchen table with us, after hugging me and kissing Regina’s cheek, and then walked his father outside to Sam, Thomas, Duncan, Aaron, and Dane.
They were all eating, and I knew they would get Eammon a plate.
All the food was out there on a huge buffet table, with warmers underneath, that Aaron had sent over first thing that morning.
I really did appreciate that, as all I had to do was make sure everything stayed filled outside, and this way there was not a whole crowd of people traipsing through my kitchen.
“Mrs. Murray, may I pour you a daiquiri?” Hannah asked her.
“Oh no, dear, I’ll just have a––”
“Have one of her wonderful drinks,” Regina prodded her. “It’s her birthday tomorrow. Think of it as a gift for her.”
Anne looked up at Hannah, who smiled big.
“How could I say no to that beautiful face?”
Poor Finn. An hour later, Aja, Robert, Hannah, his mother, Dylan, Chris, and Regina were in a conga line headed by Jake, with Gentry bringing up the rear.
“Love Train,” by the O’Jays, was blasting through our house.
I was laughing so hard, taking video, utterly enthralled just watching.
When Eammon came in and got in behind his wife, I thought Finn was going to die.
The look of horror on his face was adorable.
I texted Kola, and he was beside me moments later.
Tipping my head at his intended, Kola immediately understood the assignment.
When Kola was dancing behind his cousin, and passing Finn, when he reached out his hand, immediately it was taken.
To Finn, Kola was irresistible. As they danced outside, I was laughing as I answered the doorbell when it rang.
Sandra was there with Michael, and they both looked a bit gray.
“Hi,” I greeted them, stepping aside so they could come in.
Sandra had an enormous pumpkin pie with her, and Michael had a bottle of moscato. Of course the conga line came back through then, with Thomas as the end now, behind Finn, and he waved at his son and his new daughter-in-law as he passed them.
“Jory, you have the most interesting holidays at your house,” she said.
“Right?” I said, opening my arms for her.
Immediately, she stepped in close, hugging me tight.
Squeezing her back, I suggested she come outside with me and get some food. The song changed to “September” then, by Earth, Wind & Fire, and once they got their plates, I noted that both Sandra and Michael waved to everyone as they passed by.
Sam brought Sandra a daiquiri, which she was so surprised over, she didn’t even argue with him, and he passed his brother an old-fashioned.
“I made that with my good stuff,” he told him.
Michael nodded quickly, and I could tell he was a bit choked up.
“You both need to eat a lot. We’ve got a ton of food,” Sam ordered them. “And a lot of booze, so let’s get goin’.”