Chapter 16 - Christmas Without a Guest List
Five years after the locksmith Christmas, something strange happened.
I didn't make a guest list.
Not because everyone was automatically welcome.
Because everyone finally understood they had to ask.
Mom called.
"Would you like us there?"
Lauren texted.
Can I come early and help cook?
Caroline asked whether she could bring dessert.
Even Patricia asked.
Nobody assumed.
Nobody demanded.
Nobody hired a locksmith.
I invited them.
Not everyone.
But enough.
That Christmas, sixteen people gathered around Grandma's table.
There were arguments.
Lauren complained about Dad's music.
Caroline overcooked the potatoes.
Mom cried during a toast.
Patricia and Richard still couldn't comfortably sit near each other.
It was messy.
But it was honest.
After dinner, we took a photograph.
Someone asked where we should post it.
I said nowhere.
May you like
So we didn't.
For once, the memory belonged only to us.
