When I was young, the family used to visit at Christmas. We exchanged gifts and it was fun. (Yes, I am Jewish, long story...)

Then my aunt stopped visiting and didn’t want to exchange presents. The tradition stopped. My mom still did it, but it got much smaller. Only my family and the one sister who lived close usually came. We are talking about gifts that were more of a gesture than an expense.

The stopping of exchanging gifts started the ripple that led to the estrangement of the whole family. It would have been better to at least exchange some tiniest effort of cheer to feel connected to family.

Those grinches put the kabosh on the whole family relationship. It wasn’t about not being able to afford it. It was just being stingy with love.