Early in our adult life, a former boyfriend and I couldn’t always afford to buy plane tickets home to Arizona for the holidays. This made me a little sad, as Christmas is quite the thing in my family. Being poor was depressing enough but missing our traditional holiday meals only compounded the situation. No Christmas Eve oysters? No pierogies? No crazy cooking marathon with my mom or opening stockings on Christmas morning like when we were kids? Exchanging gifts isn’t nearly as fun when you’re not there to see the recipients face. Luckily we had some family nearby and many friends who were happy to invite us to their celebrations, and this helped. One year, we were invited to the family home of a good friends girlfriend for what became a rather memorable Christmas.
STRESSCAKE 