CNU-My daughter-in-law said Christmas would be easier if I stayed away, and my son did not even raise his eyes to defend me. So I stayed home, alone, exactly as requested. …

between us.

So I prepared like a fool and like a father.

I brined the turkey in apple cider and kosher salt, the way my mother taught Ellen and Ellen taught me. I made sausage stuffing, green beans with shallots, sweet potatoes with orange zest, cranberry sauce from scratch because the canned kind offended my sense of order. I polished the silver Ellen’s continue reading …