Chapter 13 - The Family Meeting
The following Christmas, we did something our family had never done before.
We established rules.
Not rules for children.
Rules for everyone.
No insulting.
No threatening to remove food, shelter or affection.
No forcing children to keep secrets from parents.
No humiliating someone for refusing something unsafe.
No adult automatically wins an argument because of age.
Mom read the list.
Years earlier, she would have mocked it.
This time she signed it.
My sister signed.
I signed.
The children insisted on signing too.
Emily added one rule herself.
“If a basket is too heavy, get another person.”
Her cousin laughed.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously.”
Mom looked at Emily.
“That’s a good rule.”
So it stayed.
Christmas dinner was chaotic.
The turkey was dry.
One cousin spilled soda.
The dog stole a roll.
Nobody screamed.
Nobody was thrown outside.
Nobody had to earn a seat at the table.
May you like
It was imperfect.
And because of that, it felt healthier than any perfect holiday photograph we had ever taken.
