Here's To Grown-Up Siblings And The Ties That Bind

We didn't expect to need the card table for spillover seating at this year's Thanksgiving dinner. We would be fewer than usual, just nine altogether, and the littlest one's high chair needs no place setting.

As we got things ready, I felt deep gratitude for the family members who would be here — my husband, our two daughters, their husbands, my sister-in-law's 90-year-old mother and our two delightful granddaughters. But I also knew I would deeply miss the ones who couldn't make it.

This would be our third holiday without my mother, who died in March 2017. My niece and nephews had other plans, and so did my younger brother, Paul, who was traveling in Spain with his wife.

I was glad they had a chance to see a part of the world they'd never been to, but I