If you asked my family to describe me in one word, they’d say “dependable.” What they really mean is: I show up early, bring extra napkins, pick up checks no one mentions, and smooth over the uncomfortable silences. That was my plan for Christmas dinner—smile, keep things civil, get through the meal, and escape before the inevitable drama started its predictable countdown. The house looked exactly like every December from my childhood: the plastic nativity set from 1994 with baby Jesus’s paint chipping off, the one-eyed inflatable snowman Dad refused to replace, the same scratched CD labeled “XMAS MIX 2008” playing Mariah Carey on loop.
The familiar orbit remained unchanged too—everything and everyone spinning around my younger sister Natalie and her eight-year-old son Mason, the golden child and the golden grandchild.
My husband Ethan carried the green bean casserole I’d spent two hours making that morning.
I balanced a bag of carefully wrapped gifts.
My seven-year-old son Liam clutched a crayon drawing he’d made for his grandparents: stick-figure people standing under a crooked Christmas tree, “FAMILY FOREVER” spelled out in wobbly block letters across the top. “Shoes off, I just had the floors done,” Mom said without looking up from the stove.
Dad nodded from his position by the oven, barely glancing our way.
“Hey there, Champ.” He’d been calling me that since I was ten years old, back when I’d been the one bringing home straight A’s and soccer trophies. Before Natalie was born and recalibrated everyone’s attention like a magnet reorganizing iron filings.
We slid into our designated spots in the hierarchy.
The dining table glowed under soft yellow light—red velvet runner, polished silverware, eight plates set like a magazine spread from Better Homes and Gardens.
Liam climbed onto his chair with the careful deliberation of a child who’d been taught good manners. He sat up straight, folded his hands, ready to say grace like we’d practiced.
Then he blinked, his small face registering confusion. His placemat was bare.
No plate.
No fork.
No napkin. Just a sticky square where a candy cane had apparently melted sometime around 2012 and never been properly cleaned.
I kept my voice even, reasonable.
“Mom, we need a place setting for Liam.”
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