Bright Ideas

Every year we open gifts for kids and gifts from kids, Katie and Clayton, on Christmas Eve. We did that when I was a kid. We’d go to Grandma and Grandpa’s house, have a meal, and open presents. One year my uncle Donnie had gotten a present for the girl he was going to marry. It disappeared. Grandma probably threw it away. Her sons never made good choices of wives; Grandma never liked them for at least for 15 years.

The same was not true of her mother. Mom wanted to stay with her and her husband, my Great Grandparents, until they had a trailer. She always loved old people. When they moved to Ka...